


When Everything Goes To Hell It's Good To Have You There

by hentailobster



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Minor Character Death, Thor is smitten, american school system can suck my dick i sure as shit am not writing about that complicated mess, and the angst is interlaced with fluff so idk, bikes are cool, brief overuse of alcohol, but i hate to put that on my fics because i'm no good at writing it, dumb ways to deal with loss, i realize two weeks later that this probably passes as angst now, it's not all sadness, not the meme loss i should probably clarify, tags will probs be edited later on, there's lots of brotherly banter because thor and loki need more interactions without incest, this has escalated, we are getting further and further away from the bike theme
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-05-04 14:25:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14594955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hentailobster/pseuds/hentailobster
Summary: This is that one weird highschool au one shot you read a month ago. You know that one with the bike? Things have since gone, for lack of better words, to shit and everything is sad now so that's fun.Please, PLEASE, make sure to check the tags with each new chapter because I don't really have a plan for this which means triggering subjects might show up out of nowhere with the newest chapters. That is a terrible way to tell a story but it's what you're getting





	1. Thor's Way To School

Thor would be the first to admit that he was ridiculously fond of his bike.

  
He’d only just gotten it, and quickly came to realize that it was an absolutely brilliant mode of transport, and so much better than the training bikes at the gym. Not that he particularly minded those (as anyone would probably guess just by looking at him), it was just a lot nicer to get some fresh air and sun while exercising.

  
Besides that, it gave him an excuse to look after Loki a little extra. People would often laugh at him for being so overprotective of his little brother, but then again there weren’t many people who could fully comprehend what Loki could do with some spare time, the contents of his backpack and a small defenseless animal or child. Thor wasn’t just protecting Loki, he was protecting the rest of the world as well, by something as simple as giving Loki a lift to school.

  
”Are you ready to go?” He carefully knocked on Loki’s bedroom door, deciding that getting his brother’s attention was not worth waking Hela up. That would probably end in at best some cayenne pepper in his ice cream or at worst a fight to the death, which he really didn’t have time for right now.

  
”What, already? What time is it?” The knocking had obviously been just enough, which luckily for Thor meant he did not have to risk opening Loki’s door without permission, something that would usually lead to seeing things that were difficult to unsee.

  
”It’s time to go, you’re gonna be late” Not a fantastic lie, but it seemed to work because Loki was ready in just five minutes, which was nothing short of a miracle.

  
Thor tried to chat with his brother to keep him from noticing that he was not running late at all, and got a few muttered, one syllable words in response, as the two of them left the house and made their way through the garden. It was fairly easy to get the bike out of the garage since their father had left for one of his frequent travels to Iceland way before the kids woke up. Their mother had already been there for about four days, deciding it was a perfectly acceptable idea to leave Hela in charge of anything. Thor was not too sure about that, but being home alone was great no matter what. He’d just have to keep an eye on Loki and stop untrustworthy people from entering their house, which meant Hela would most likely leave the house to meet said untrustworthy people. A win-win situation in Thor’s eyes.

  
”Do you have your helmet?”

  
”Over my dead body. Do you have any idea how much time I spent on my hair?” To an outsider, this might have looked like Loki was exaggerating for comedic purposes, but Thor knew better.

  
”You do realize that ’over your dead body’ isn’t that unlikely if you don’t wear a helmet”

  
”You’re not wearing one either!” Loki’s voice had turned a bit whiny, something Thor liked to think meant he was winning the argument. Granted, Loki always sounded slightly whiny, but that was besides the point.

  
”That’s because I’m two years older than you. Only infants like you have to protect their heads” Thor grinned as Loki put on his helmet with the most murderous face he’d seen since about yesterday.

  
After about exactly ten seconds on the road Thor heard something hard hitting the asphalt, followed by something vaguely rude from Loki.

  
He just sighed and gave up, not wanting to be late for his meeting. Okay, not a _meeting_ exactly. But that was the least creepy way to put it.

  
”Don’t shut up like that all of a sudden, it’s so unlike you even I start to worry” Loki tapped the side of Thor’s skull, not at all gently ”Don’t tell me I pissed you off with _that_ ”

  
”You think too high of yourself” Thor swatted at Loki’s hand, admittedly a little bit annoyed at being snapped out of his thoughts.

  
”So what are you thinking about?”

  
”Well there’s this guy-” Loki interrupted him with a groan that could almost rival one of Hela’s. Almost.

  
”Let me guess, you’re starry eyed but haven’t worked up the courage to talk to him yet because-” he shifted to a rather mean imitation of Thor’s voice ”’He’s _literally_ perfect and I, why I’m just little old me. He’d never even look my way’” Thor was pretty impressed by himself for not stopping the bike to fight his brother right then and there, even though a small part of his brain told him it was mainly because Loki was technically right.

  
”I’m not starry eyed, and I’ll have you know I _have_ talked to him”

 

” _Have_ you now. And what did you say, oh most charismatic of brothers?”

  
”I said ’you dropped this’- because he had dropped his backpack- and he said ’thanks’” Okay so Thor wasn’t 100% sure if the guy had heard him but that was not what was important. What was important was that that had been exactly three weeks and two days ago, and Thor was starting to miss the sound of his voice.

  
”I’m truly impressed” Said Loki, dryly ”but you do realize that you’ll have to do more than that. Do you even know anything about him?”

 

”I know he walks to class at nine every Thursday which is why we headed out earlier than usual”

  
There was a moment of silence as it dawned upon Loki what exactly Thor was saying.

  
”I have class at _eleven!_ I didn’t think it was this early!”

  
”Well, you’re the one who didn’t check the time properly” Thor couldn’t help but grin at Loki’s upset tone, which accompanied the remaining twenty minutes of the ride.

 

 

After dropping Loki off and nearly getting his eye poked out with a green glitter marker, Thor hurried towards the road where he knew the mysterious guy would be walking. He was running slightly late and had to bite back a curse at the _fifth_ red light. It would really suck if he arrived an hour early to school without geting to see his crush, but it was honestly starting to look like that was what was going to happen. When Thor passed the soccer field, meaning he was about halfway to the school, it was already ten minutes past nine. He picked up his pace, not even bothering to see what commotion was taking place on the field at the moment even though it sounded fascinating, rounded a corner and went down a steep slope. It was lucky he’d probably gone the same route over a hundred times already, otherwise he might have ended up getting hurt with how fast he was going. But he just _really_ wanted to get to the cute guy before class because that would brighten his day considerably and make it a little easier to deal with Hela and-

  
_There he was!_

  
Thor slowed down a little so he would get a few moments to catch his breath, not wanting to look like he’d been rushing if he got to talk to the guy which would probably be amazing if he could just figure out a way to do it smoothly…

  
The idea struck him like lightning, simple but effective. He had noticed that the guy was alternating between running and walking as fast as he could, meaning he was probably late. Thor picked up his pace slightly and tried to muster as much courage as humanly possible.

  
”Hey do you want a lift?” He said (a little too loud, possibly) as he pulled up next to the guy and slowed down to match his pace.

  
”Wha- me?” He looked up in surprise and Thor almost fell off his bike at the sight of his face. Eyes wide with surprise and a slight blush from running.

  
”Yes you looked like you were in a hurry so I thought that maybe you’d…need….one” Thor trailed off to avoid stuttering, but had a slight feeling he only sounded more awkward.

  
”You know there’s really no need to-, I mean if it’s a bother to you”

  
”Well I wouldn’t have asked if it was, would I?” Thor grinned, the guy chuckled slightly and Thor suddenly wished he had as amazing a memory as that asshole Stephen from his class so he could remember that laugh forever.

  
”I suppose not” Thor stopped the bike and helped the guy get on, careful not to touch him too much since he suspected that would make him combust on the spot. What he had not counted on was the fact that when he himself got on the bike the guy would grab his shoulders. It was a light touch, but it still made him feel like he was hooked up to an electrical outlet.

  
”I’m Bruce, by the way. Feels a little weird to get a lift from someone who doesn’t even know my name”

  
”Thor” _His name was Bruce_. ”That’s my name, I mean” _Which was the cutest name Thor had ever heard._ ”Or well, you probably got that” Bruce laughed again.

  
”I did”

 

 

They’d gone for a few minutes that felt like hours in silence before Bruce said something again, that Thor actually managed to catch despite the angel choirs in his mind singing about how Bruce was the one who had started the conversation this time.

  
”Okay so can I just rant to you for a bit? I just really need to talk to someone about this” Bruce sounded a little hesitant, which was weird considering anyone would be lucky to hear him speak about anything.

  
”Sure, go ahead”

  
”Okay so the reason I’m late isn’t really my fault at all, actually. It’s just my friend Tony who’s an idiot” Thor nodded to himself. He had his fair share of idiotic friends.

  
”What did he do?” He was actually a bit curious.

  
”Well we were just walking to class like we usually do, right? But he suddenly sees one of the soccer guys, I don’t know if you know who he is but his name is Steve-something, I think. Anyway so Tony points at him and says, and I quote here ’I don’t like his attitude’ and the next thing I know he’s challenging the guy to a running competition” Bruce took a deep breath, obviously riled up from telling the dramatic story. ”I watched him lose five times before I realized that we were late, but he just refused to come and I got even more late and I ended up having to leave him there”

  
Before they knew it, which was way too fast for Thor’s liking, they arrived at the school. Bruce thanked Thor for the ride and Thor tried to assure him that it was nothing to thank him for without sounding too much like giving Bruce a lift had been the best part of his entire week.

  
”You know if you ever need a lift again I’d be happy to serve” Bruce looked like he was about to protest for a second, but then something crept over his face. It was almost a smirk, but still with Bruce’s shyness covering it.

  
”Well I can’t do that if I don’t have your number, can I?”

  
Thor felt like his cheeks were going to split from smiling too much.


	2. On Being Smitten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> have I mentioned that they are both smitten?

Bruce liked to think hat he had a firm grasp of his flaws and abilities.

  
On one hand he wasn’t half-bad at science and he liked to think that his social status was at least a bit higher than the gang who drove around town in a minivan with a horrible blue and orange paint job, blasting music from the seventies at full volume. On the other he was painfully aware that he wasn’t much of a romantic, which was why his sudden burst of flirtatiousness that morning had really taken him by surprise. Not that it was unwelcome, even if it made him feel like Tony was starting to influence him.

  
The question was what he would do now.

  
He didn’t want to just leave the number in his phone until it got weird to call, but despite being known for being pretty smart he couldn’t come up with a single way to initiate contact with Thor.

  
Which left him with his options quickly being reduced to the dreaded ’ask Tony’. Something that would undoubtedly be helpful but would come at the price of having his best friend being well, himself. There was no other way of putting it to be honest, because whenever Bruce thought he knew what to expect from Tony something else inevitably ended up happening. The only thing you could really say for certain was that it wouldn’t happen in a calm and collected manner. That was probably why people were always surprised when they realized Bruce and Tony were friends. Bruce, who just wanted to go through his school time in peace, would be the first to admit that he and Tony seemed like a pretty unexpected duo but he wouldn’t trade their friendship for anything in the world.

  
Back to romance well, it wasn’t really something he liked to talk to anyone about.

  
He and Tony talked about pretty much everything, but there was an unspoken rule that certain subjects were to be avoided. Bruce’s love life was one of them, alongside drinking, any of their families and money.

  
Other than that they could stay up late for hours talking about anything.

  
Living together had stopped feeling like a long sleepover after a while, but some nights the feeling came back and they’d lay in their beds for hours on end with the latest news and gossip. Coincidentally, it looked like this was going to be that kind of night. Tony had had a lot to say about his competition with that soccer guy and Bruce was more than happy to express his annoyance at getting abandoned for class.

  
”Did mr Pym get mad at you? Cause in that case I am truly sorry”

  
”I actually managed to get there on time, no thanks to you of course” Bruce snatched the bag of potato chips out of Tony’s hands. It would indeed have been bad if he’d gotten late to professor Pym’s class, but thanks to Thor he’d had more than enough time to get from the school entrance to the classroom.

  
”I can’t help that you love to watch me lose Brucie, I guess you’ll just have to work on what a terrible human being you are and maybe you’ll manage to get to class without running next time”

  
”Who said I ran?” There was no point in waiting any longer since Tony would most likely not jump to the conclusion that Bruce would have been able to get there in time by walking.

  
”You didn’t? Did you catch a lift or something?” Tony was looking at Bruce with that very Tony-esque look that could mean anything from ”I’m sorry for your loss” to ”Meet me in the parking lot at ten sharp and bring a chemical weapon of your own design”. Usually it wouldn’t make Bruce this nervous since he was pretty much used to it after two months in the same apartment as Tony, but well…today was a special occasion.

  
”More like a lift caught me if I’m being honest” He tried to eat a chip as nonchalantly as possible to hide the fact that he was still in somewhat of a shock state from the events of the morning.

  
”Would you be so kind as to elaborate?”

  
”Well there was this guy and I suppose he must have seen me running because he offered to drive me to school on his bike” Bruce squirmed a little ”I’ve actually been meaning to talk to you about this because he kinda gave me his number and said he could drive me again”

  
”What?” Tony leaned forward, a somewhat ominous smile creeping over his face. ”Now you have to tell me _everything._ Is he cute?”

  
Bruce blushed ”A little”

  
”Do I know him?”

  
”I don’t think so, not unless you have people you know that you don’t talk about”

  
”You make a valid point, but on a much more important note you have to point him out tomorrow”

  
”I will, I promise” Bruce just hoped he’d be able to. It seemed a bit unlikely that he’d been able to go without noticing Thor in school before, after all, so they probably wouldn’t start randomly meeting all of a sudden. Which might be for the best, if Tony’s obvious excitement was anything to go by.

  
”Just to make sure, you’ve texted him right?”

  
”Not…really, no” Tony rolled his eyes at that.

  
”He obviously wants you to, I hope you realize that” Bruce kind of did actually. It was just impossible to wrap his head around it.

  
”Maybe he’s just nice-”

  
”Shut up and go to sleep. We’ll talk this through tomorrow”

  
”Did you of all people just seriously tell me to go sleep?”

  
”Can’t hear you I’m sleeping” Tony had pulled his covers over his head and was now facing away from Bruce, who sighed and got out of his bed.

  
”I’m gonna brush my teeth” He only got a murmur in response and made his way to the bathroom, not expecting any more.

  
He absentmindedly scrolled through his phone as he brushed his teeth, when an idea that had been buzzing at the back of his brain came back to him. Maybe it was the urge to prove Tony wrong that motivated him, but before he’d gotten any time to think about it too much he’d formulated and sent a short message.

  
_’Just checking to see that I got the right number// Bruce’_

  
Barely a minute later he got a response.

  
_’You did :D// Thor’_

  
It wasn’t much, but more than enough to make Bruce’s brain short-circuit, leaving him with zero ideas on how to continue the conversation. Luckily, he didn’t have to.

  
_’Will you be needing my services tomorrow?’_

  
Every fibre of Bruce’s being was screaming at him to say yes, but he forced himself to be reasonable. He didn’t know the guy’s schedule, after all, and it was possible that theirs didn’t line up at all. There was just something about Thor that made him seem like the type of guy who’d get up three hours too early to give a stranger a lift, and Bruce really didn’t want to put him through that. Fridays also happened to be his earliest morning which really increased the risk of that happening.

  
_’It’s okay, I start really early don’t wanna wake you up just to drive me around town’_

  
_’Aw okay’_

  
Before Bruce got time to reply, another message appeared. (He really needed to learn how to text faster)

  
_’See you in school then?’_

  
_’Hopefully :)’_

  
_’:D’_

  
When Bruce crawled into his bed he couldn’t help but smile to himself.

 

 

The next day was fairly routine besides the fact that Tony asked about fifty questions per minute about Thor throughout their breakfast and way to school. He would have probably continued during their class if it weren’t for Bruce informing him that not everyone had the ability to study an entire chapter the night before the test and still ace it. Religion was hard enough to concentrate on as it was with their teacher who no one even knew the name of (She was commonly referred to as the ancient one seeing as she appeared to have worked at the school for all eternity) and he didn’t need Tony’s questions leading his focus towards bright blue eyes and that absolutely dazzling smile…

  
Okay so maybe Bruce didn’t really need Tony to lose his focus.

 

 

Lunch was, without fail, always a nightmare, but that was probably to be expected when you threw kids from two different schools together. The effect was amplified by the fact that each school was split into two programs, leaving the dining hall divided into four groups occasionally throwing food at each other. Bruce liked to think he was pretty good friends with a lot of the kids from other programs, which really wasn’t that uncommon, but it was as if the second you stepped into the dining hall you had to sit with your own program and mutter/scream vague insults at the others.

  
Luckily, him and Tony would usually be able to avoid any attention but that also came with not giving anyone else any attention. That was not the goal today.

  
”So where is he?” Tony handed the ladle to Bruce so that he could help himself to some of the oddly smelling substance the menu had called ’stew’.

  
”I don’t know, but if he’s here he should be fairly easy to spot” Bruce served himself some ’stew’ and put the ladle back. It made a weird squelching sound.

  
He and Tony sat down at a table near the back of the hall which gave them a good view of the room and its entrance.

  
”Isn’t that the guy you challenged yesterday?” Bruce waved his fork towards a table full of kids from the other school. In the middle of the group sat a guy who honestly didn’t look all to comfortable with being the centre of attention. Bruce would probably have guessed he attended the arts program if it wasn’t for the outfit and the company, namely a bunch of kids who looked like they would have no problem getting up on one of the tables and ad-lib an inspirational speech. Or fight someone. Or both.

  
”That’s Steve yeah, he’s not too bad. I think he went easy on me”

  
”He definitely looks the type” Bruce’s attention was caught by a girl who walked up to Steve’s table. She appeared to have set her sights on one of the girls in the group, a redhead who didn’t look all that opposed to talking to the new arrival. The two exchanged a few words (Bruce could just barely make out ”bet” and ”number”) and the redhead nodded and wrote something down on a piece of paper. The first girl took it with a smile and triumphantly headed back to her table and-

  
Bruce went stiff.

  
”There he is” He carefully nudged Tony and even more carefully gestured towards Thor. He was sitting together with the girl from earlier and some guy with a hair color that could only be described as ’rock-like’, and Bruce almost dropped his fork when he saw Thor laugh at something the girl said.

 

”He passes” Tony proclaimed ”I will only accept the best for my best friend, and he looks like he’s on your level”

  
Bruce smiled, but couldn’t stop staring. Which was bad, definitely bad, but who could blame him, really?

  
”Oh and you are smitten aren’t you?” He could see Tony smiling at him from the corner of his eye.

  
”A little” Thor happened to chose that exact moment to notice Bruce and smile at him. ”Okay, a lot” Bruce managed to croak out. Thor said something to his friends and they both immediately turned their heads towards Bruce and Tony. The guy waved and the girl looked like she was trying to shout something, but Thor pretty much threw himself over the table to stop her.

  
”I think she wants to tell us something” Tony, clever as always, pointed out. Then he screamed, at the top of his lungs ”WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO SAY?”

  
”What are you _doing?_ ” Tony didn’t hear Bruce’s question over the girl’s response.

  
”I WAS GONNA SAY THAT MY FRIEND THINKS YOUR FRIEND IS CUTE”

  
Oh.

  
_Oh._

  
Bruce _shouldn’t_ be this shocked, he tried to tell himself, because he _had_ been aware that this might not be as one-sided of a crush as he had expected, but seeing Thor blush and give him an insecure smile was…it was different. It was on a whole new level.

  
Bruce smiled back and Thor looked like he let out a sigh of relief.

  
Then he smiled back, and it wasn’t one of his usual ear-to-ear grins. It was soft and warm and it made Bruce’s entire world stop.

  
’A lot’, it seemed, didn’t even begin to cover how smitten he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment I beg of you I need someone to talk to me about these dorks


	3. In Which Things Get Complicated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This isn't even thorbruce, it's just brotherly angst cheers mates

When Thor got home he had to take a moment.

  
He ended up sitting down on the floor in the hallway just staring at the wall and feeling his heart beat. It had calmed down a little since lunch, but he wasn’t sure if it would ever be the same. The day had been quite a trip, and he decided that he had earned himself some ice cream for surviving not only talking to his crush (even though technically that had been the day before) but also being exposed to him by someone he considered a close friend. He still hadn’t opened his container from their last shopping trip (It was a tradition to buy each of the kids one pint of heir respective favorite flavors- black licorice, mint chocolate and strawberry cheesecake). He quickly dug it out of the fridge, scooped some up and sat down at the kitchen table, trying to decide what to text Brunhilde. In the end he stuck with a simple _’You’re the worst’_ that he did not get to see the reply to because Loki entered the kitchen. He looked like he was still pissed about getting dropped off too early, but that wasn’t surprising. It had been a bit of a dick move even though Loki had done much worse.

  
”Still mad about the other day?” Loki ignored him and started brewing some coffee. ”Loki come on”

  
”Do I look mad?” He turned to Thor.

  
”A little”

  
Silence fell over the room, only disturbed by the sounds of Loki’s coffee. Thor waited for his brother to say something mean, but it never happened. Loki just stared at him. It had gone from hostile to cold, which was honestly a lot more worrying.

  
”Did anything happen in school?” Thor finally asked. Loki had turned to grab a mug from the counter which meant Thor couldn’t see his expression. That, of course, didn’t mean he failed to notice Loki’s shoulders tensing for a split second.

  
”Nothing I can think of” Loki quickly filled his mug ”I’m going to my room”

  
”No you’re not” There was obviously something wrong. Thor stood up, intending to stop his brother, but barely managed to get to the stairs before he heard a door slam. He stopped then, staring at the top of the stairs as if he expected Loki to come back.

  
That, obviously, did not happen and Thor soon returned to the kitchen table.

  
_’Do you wanna talk abt it?’_ It felt weird to text someone who was just one floor away, but he didn’t want to intrude if Loki preferred to be alone. He put his phone down with a sigh and decided to give himself ten minutes to finish his ice cream before he went upstairs. It was odd. Loki had never gotten in any trouble with the kids at his school before. Not that Thor knew of, at least, but of course Loki didn’t talk to him as much about school as he used to. Loki didn’t talk to him as much as he used to in general, to be honest. Thor supposed it was only natural but he still hated it. He hated eating alone when their parents were away and he hated how silent the house became, besides the occasional arguments. He’d tried to counter it by inviting his friends over, but they obviously couldn’t stay forever so when it was time to go to bed it was back to the eerie silence that felt like it had come with the new house. It had never been like that back before they moved. Whenever Odin and Frigga left the kids would all eat every single meal together and make a point of eating the worst food imaginable. Nowadays Hela barely ate with the family at all and Loki would leave the table early when he did, meaning it was up to Thor to sit down and listen to what his parents were currently digging out. It wasn’t that he didn’t find it interesting, it just made him feel more adult than he enjoyed.

 

Ten minutes passed quickly. Thor washed his bowl and put it in the dish rack, then checked his phone. Still no reply from Loki. He sighed and walked up the stairs as quietly as possible then softly knocked on Loki’s door.

  
”Loki” He said ”It’s me, can I come in?”

  
No response. Not even a noise from behind the door. Thor slowly counted to fifty before he opened the door to Loki’s room and entered. At first glance it looked like it was empty, which made Thor’s stomach twist in worry, then a muffled voice could be heard from under the bed.

  
”I didn’t say you could come in”

  
”Sorry about that” Thor crossed the room and sat down next to the bed. ”So are you gonna tell me what’s happened?”

  
”I told you it’s nothing. I’m fine” A hand emerged and hit Thor’s leg without any enthusiasm. It was almost tragic, really, compared to what Loki was capable of.

  
”Well I didn’t believe you, and that feeling hasn’t changed”

  
”Just leave me alone”

  
”Nope”

  
”I hate you” Loki pulled his hand back, but now Thor laid down on his side so that he could see his brother. Loki did not look fine at all. His eyes were red and his hair was messy in a way that Thor presumed was not fashionable nor intentional.

  
”Hey” He said softly, reaching in to brush some hair out of Loki’s face. His cheeks were wet.

  
Thor reached for Loki’s hand and tugged at it gently. Loki looked like he was considering it for a second then crawled out from his hiding spot and he and Thor sat up by the bed, side by side. Loki plucked absentmindedly at his shirt sleeves as if he was trying to decide what to say. Thor kept silent and let his brother take his time, not wanting to pressure him. After a while he carefully reached out and put a hand on Loki’s shoulder. When he didn’t get a negative reaction he started rubbing it gently, hoping that the motions were somewhat soothing. It looked like it was working because Loki leaned back against the bed.

  
”Do you remember when we used to eat really trashy fast food and just watch the worst movies we could get our hands on?” Thor nodded, trying his best not to get his hopes up. It had been a tradition that the two of them started when Thor accidentally stumbled upon a weird low budget horror movie on youtube one day.

  
”I think I’ve still got the lost world lying around somewhere”

  
Loki didn’t even bother to try and look like he hated the idea, like he usually would. ”Can we watch it?” He said it hesitantly, like he was expecting a no, and Thor felt a slight burn behind his eyelids.

  
”Of course” It didn’t come out as choked as he’d expected, which was something at least.

 

 

The food arrived about half an hour later- two pizzas from the nearest pizza place, both greasier than Loki’s hair on a special occasion. Thor decided to keep that observation to himself, though, because despite Loki starting to cheer up slightly he still looked absolutely miserable. So Thor tried to be as nice as possible without overdoing it, which obviously meant no insulting. He made sure to stay by Loki’s side as they were searching for an extra pair of scissors so that they wouldn’t have to share and didn’t leave to get the dvd until Loki had gotten comfortable on the couch with a blanket. When Thor came back his brother had almos started to look relaxed. He had wrapped himself up tightly so that only his face and one arm were visible and now and then he glanced at the pizza boxes, rather than just staring straight ahead.

  
It was progress, Thor decided and tried his best to seem cheerful as he started the movie.

  
They had only bought it in the first place because Loki had a weird fixation on Jeff Goldblum, but on their first viewing it became obvious that the movie was absolute garbage. Since then they had seen it many times, dissecting every part of it and by now they knew what to complain about by heart. That didn’t matter, it was still fun.

  
”Is she his new future ex-wife now or what?” Loki was talking about the lead female character ”It really doesn’t go with his character from the first movie if they’re gonna try and push their romance like this”

  
”Well they always need a love interest don’t they?” Every fibre of Thor’s being was trembling with the need to go on a rant about the representation of women in Hollywood, but he swallowed it and let Loki do most of the talking. Partly to give him some space and partly to let him be the centre of attention, which he seemed to need right now. Thor simply agreed and shot in a few comments on every criticism his brother made until the credits started rolling.

  
”As terrible as always” Loki yawned ”But Jeff Goldblum is still hot…”

  
Thor chuckled slightly and then the both of them sat in silence once again, just watching the endless list of names go by on the screen. Minutes passed and Thor started to wonder if Loki had fallen asleep when he suddenly spoke.

  
”There’s this guy, I think he’s one year above you in nature” Loki’s voice was silent and monotone ”He lives in the other end of town so he has to walk by my school every day to get to his”

  
Thor gripped the couch, but he kept silent not wanting to say anything that would interrupt Loki.

  
”He’s…he’s not that great actually. As you might have guessed. He really doesn’t like me” Loki laughed, but it was sharp and hollow and barely even passed for a laugh, honestly.

  
Then he rolled up his sleeves.

  
Thor felt physically ill at the sight of the numerous bruises covering Loki’s arms and he knew he wasn’t supposed to interrupt Loki but he had had enough of just _sitting there_ like an idiot. He shuffled over to Loki’s end of the couch and before his brother could say anything he had been pulled into a tight embrace.

  
”Do they hurt?” Thor whispered, aware of how much his voice was trembling. He buried his face in Loki’s neck and tightened his grip on his brother when he felt him starting to shake ever so slightly.

  
”A- A little” Loki sniffled. ”He’s done worse before don’t worry about it”

  
”He’s done _worse?_ ” Thor pushed Loki back so that he could look at him.

  
”Thor please calm-”

 

”I’m not gonna _calm down_ for heaven’s sake, I can’t just let this happen to you” His voice broke at the last part of his sentence. ”Who is he?”

  
Loki went pale ”I can’t tell you”

  
”Yes you can” Thor gripped Loki’s shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes ”Listen to me. I’m going to pay him back tenfold for every single bruise he has ever put on you. I swear”

  
”You can’t just fight him. You’ll get in trouble and for crying out loud the guy is _insane_ ”

  
”I’m sure I won’t get in more trouble than him once I tell the school why I’m beating him up. As for if he’s insane, I couldn’t care less” Thor didn’t think he’d ever been angrier in his entire life. It didn’t matter if he got himself expelled for it, he was going to find whoever was responsible for this and remind him who exactly he was messing with.

  
”You’re an idiot” Loki sniffled again and angrily wiped his nose with his bruised forearm. Some of his hair fell into his face and Thor gently put it back in place. A few moments of silence passed, then Thor asked again, as softly as he could.

  
”Loki, can you tell me who it is?”

  
And this time, Loki answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GuESs wHo it iS
> 
> In the comments
> 
> Please comment


	4. Family, Friends and other F-Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's some violence in this chapter, but most of it is the good kind of violence and I can't write fight scenes anyway so you're not gonna get much of a picture

When Bruce and Tony got to school they quickly realized that something was up. The popular kids from each class were whispering amongst themselves, but the gossiping appeared to be the most active amongst the society students. That wasn’t really an uncommon thing since all the political debates in those classes would sometimes continue after school but it always made the students keep an ear open for news on whatever fight was currently going.

  
Bruce preferred to stay out of it, so he’d gotten used to ignoring all the buzzing around him in class. On top of that he had other things to focus on today. He and Tony had started a long discussion on what the best way to invite Thor out would be and it didn’t look like it was going to end anytime soon.

  
”All I’m saying is he looks like the type for morning runs”

  
”That doesn’t change the fact that I can’t even dream of keeping up with him” Bruce rolled his eyes then fixed them on his and Tony’s chemistry project. It was fairly simple so he didn’t really need to focus, but he liked to know what he was doing ”Just because you’re willing to look like an idiot in front of any guy with a little muscle mass doesn’t mean I’m gonna follow your example”

  
”Are you questioning my methods?”

  
”All I’m saying is if you want to impress someone you should try and do it with something you’re actually good at” Bruce had to hold back a laugh at the memory of Tony’s five disastrous losses against Steve that Thursday. He hadn’t let his friend hear the end of it over the weekend and Tony looked like he was starting to get tired of it by now. But he had had it coming. Tony still brought up the time Bruce had stood in front of a snowplow because it had been going too fast in different conversations mostly to see the people he was talking to turn to Bruce in shock. Bruce then had to explain that he preferred to stay calm because that was the kind of stupid shit he did when he got pissed and that yes, he _could_ get pissed despite what many first thought. And by the way the snowplow had been a real safety hazard, there were little kids playing right by it and one of them could easily have gotten hit but for some reason _Bruce_ was the madman for trying to stop the driver.

  
It made no sense whatsoever.

 

 

At lunch, Bruce tried to get Thor’s attention. They’d been texting a little over the weekend, talking about their respective programs and such. Bruce had also gotten to hear quite a lot about Thor’s family which had really been a trip. From the two pictures he’d gotten (One of a gloomy-looking boy giving the camera the finger and an obviously zoomed in image of a girl about to close her door) it seemed like Thor was the odd one of the three siblings.

  
Bruce tried to wave at Thor from across the dining hall but he didn’t seem to notice. He was looking quite serious and he and his friends were talking in hused voices.

  
”Looks like he’s busy” Tony sounded almost as disappointed as Bruce was ”Don’t let it get to you Brucie”

  
”I won’t” Bruce didn’t mention that he had already let it get to him a little. He understood that Thor needed personal space and had a life besides talking to Bruce, but that didn’t mean that Bruce couldn’t be a _little_ sad about it.

  
”Anyway, you care for the latest news at all?” Tony had switched to a much more cheerful tone, probably to try and get Bruce’s spirits up.

  
”Have you managed to figure out what everyone’s talking about?”

  
”I sure have” Tony shook his head in bewilderment ”And you are not gonna believe it”

  
”Something big then?” Bruce was starting to get mildly interested and would preferably see Tony speeding up the storytelling instead of focusing on the dramatic buildup.

  
”You know that weird guy from a year above us? Something with ’T’, uh, Thomas? Theodor? Th-”

  
”Thanos?”

  
”That’s the one! Huge, mental, violent”

  
”That’s Thanos alright” Bruce shuddered slightly. Most older kids were pretty nice, but the undisputed ruler of their class was a nightmare. Bruce got the impression that not many people actually liked the guy but were too afraid to get beaten up to express any negative thoughts towards him. At just over sixteen years he was already taller than most teachers and stood out from the rest of the mildly athletic nature students with biceps that could probably even measure with the sports students’. All in all it was someone Bruce preferred to stay clear of as much as possible.

  
”What about him?”

  
”Apparently someone intends to fight him behind the school later today. You know, in the old parking lot” The old parking lot was a popular spot for these types of ’events’ and you didn’t need to go looking that hard to find a tooth or two lying around. Technically it was forbidden for students to be there, but after all the personel had gone home it was fairly easy to get in, especially if you had motivation in the form of bloodlust.

  
Bruce made a point of avoiding it.

  
”Any idea who the brave soul is?”

  
”Not a clue, so it can’t be anyone well-known. I suppose we’ll get to know eventually”

  
”I suppose” Bruce paused for a moment ”Are you gonna go?”

  
”Maybe, I do kinda wanna know what happens but I’m not sure if-” Tony trailed off and fixed his gaze on the dining hall’s entrance ”Speak of the devil” He muttered as Thanos entered.

  
He and his loyal followers stopped in the doorway, blocking the path of some unfortunate arts students, and surveyed the room. Bruce tried to keep his head down while still keeping an eye on Thanos, which proved difficult but ultimately unnecessary since Thanos decided to loudly announce his presence by shouting a name into the crowd.

  
”ODINSSON”

  
Now that everyone had an excuse to stare at Thanos, they did. Every pair of eyes in the room was on him for a brief moment before everyone started scanning the place for whoever it was that Thanos had asked for. There were some low murmurs between friends, but other than that the room was dead quiet.

  
”That’s me”

  
_Oh no._

  
_Oh no no no no no._

  
Someone stood up across the room and Tony drew in a sharp breath. Bruce didn’t even need to look to know who it was.

  
Thanos cast an unimpressed look at Thor who looked back in what could look like casual boredom to anyone who didn’t know how to properly read body language.  
Bruce did, and he could have seen from across the school yard that Thor was furious.

  
”I noticed your little brother didn’t turn up to school today” Thanos strode towards Thor while the students parted like the red sea before him ”Is anything the matter with him?”

  
”I have nothing to say to you” Thor didn’t move a muscle, just stared at Thanos.

  
”Saving your energy for later i presume?” Bruce didn’t think he’d ever seen someone smile like Thanos did. It was cold but unintentionally so. Like the guy genuinely didn’t feel any emotion. He leaned in close and said something to Thor, who simply nodded.

  
Thanos turned on his heel and left the room and before Bruce could get out of his chair Thor had been swarmed by curious students wanting to know what exactly had motivated him to get himself brutally beat up. None of them got any answers though, because Thor’s friends forcefully pushed the crowd aside and the small group disappeared from the dining hall.

  
”I guess we _have_ to go now” Tony murmured.

 

 

The school day proceeded as slowly as one would imagine and Bruce spent most of it frantically texting Thor. He didn’t get many responses besides the least reassuring _’I’ll be fine :)’_ ever.

  
Tony tried telling him that Thor probably knew what he was doing and would hopefully leave Thanos waiting in the parking lot like an idiot, but it was obvious that he didn’t even believe it himself.

  
And so, an hour after classes were done, Bruce and Tony were running across the school yard towards were cheers and boos were already resounding.

  
The lot was surrounded by a low fence and they had to circle it a few times to find a way to get in. Finally, they settled on climbing a tree, which was exhausting, and just dropping down on the other side, which was terrifying and left Bruce wondering for a second about how they were going to get back out. Then he shrugged the worry off and focused on the crowd ahead. Most of them were from Thanos’ year, while the younger kids had stationed themselves at a safe distance on top of the garage roof, all of them looking somewhere between resigned and pitying.

  
”Let’s see how things are looking” Tony tugged at Bruce’s shirt sleeve and led him towards the garage. Bruce let himself be dragged, all the while keeping an eye on the crowd in the hopes of seeing something that would incline as to how Thor was faring. He didn’t have much luck with that, but he did spot the top of Thanos’ stupid, bald head a couple of times.

  
Tony helped him get up on the roof and then followed as if he’d done nothing but climb roofs his entire life. Bruce spotted Thor’s two friends sitting by the edge of the roof, eyes fixed on the fight, and carefully stepped across the unstable building to join them.

  
”Oh hey there” The guy sounded a little too cheerful for the occasion, but Bruce suspected it might just be his accent ”Come to see the fight?”

  
”He _obviously_ has!” The girl next to him snapped. She was covering her left eye with her hand and her nose was bloody, but Bruce didn’t dare ask her what had happened.

  
”Don’t mind her, guys” The guy patted her shoulder gently and got his hand smaked away ”You’re Bruce right?”

  
”He is” Tony confirmed when Bruce couldn’t work out how to properly respond.

  
”It’s nice to finally meet you Bruce, my name is Korg and that’s Brunhilde” He pointed to the girl who had returned to staring intently at the fight ”She’s usually a lot nicer, it’s just that she’s in a bad mood today as you can probably tell” Korg kept talking but Bruce didn’t listen, instead choosing to focus on the fight. From his new vantage point he could see much more of what went down, but he honestly wasn’t sure if he wanted to. Thor wasn’t an easy opponent for Thanos sure, but it was obvious that he was getting tired. He was bleeding from his upper lip and from where Bruce was sitting it looked like his shirt had been torn at some point. Thanos, on the other hand, didn’t show much physical damage. He looked a little out of breath, that was it.

  
Thor tried to punch him in the stomach, but Thanos dodged easily and instead hit Thor’s side. Bruce gripped the edge of the roof and felt his breath speed up. He thought he heard Tony ask him if he was okay, but it sounded muted, like there was a wall between them.

  
Thor hit the ground and the crowd cheered.

  
Bruce was starting to feel sick.

  
”Hold these” He took his glasses and carefully placed them in Tony’s hand, then grabbed his backpack and dropped from the roof.

  
”Hey Bruce what are you- Korg, hold these. Bruce wait up!” Bruce could hear a thud behind him as Tony followed, but he didn’t stop to wait. He sprinted towards the crowd and pushed through, gripping his backpack for dear life.

  
It was full of homework and Bruce just barely had time to say a short and silent prayer for his books to be okay as he broke through the wall of kids into the fighting ring and without stopping for even a second swung his backpack in a wide arch.

  
Bruce had never been good at aiming. It just didn’t work out for him despite how many calculations he’d done to try and figure out how he was supposed to throw. He’d even practiced behind the school for a while during winter, but it was hopeless. He just couldn’t seem to hit the target and in the end he only got a cold out of the whole ordeal.

  
So he presumed it was pure luck when his backpack landed perfectly in between Thanos’ shoulders.

  
Thanos almost fell over but managed to regain his balance and slowly turned to Bruce.

  
”Can’t you see i’m busy?” He took a step towards Bruce and raised his fist threateningly.

  
”Put one _fucking_ finger on him and I’ll sue you back to whatever circle of hell you managed to sneak out of!”

  
Tony had pushed through the crowd, flanked by Brunhilde and Korg. The latter looked at Thor apologetically.

  
”Sorry man, we didn’t wanna sit this out anymore”

  
”I didn’t want to from the beginning” Brunhilde alternated between glaring at Thor and Thanos, looking like she was equally ready to strangle both of them. ”You think I got a black eye from doing nothing way too hard?”

  
Thor looked like he was about to say something but he stopped himself and instead chose to look at the ground in shame. Meanwhile, Thanos tried to argue with Tony which was never a good idea.

  
”And what exactly are you going to sue me for?”

  
”My lawyers will think of something”

  
” _Your_ lawyers?” Thanos eyed Tony critically. He was most likely wondering what kind of lawyers a kid in an oversized, well-worn H &M sweater could possibly be talking about. Bruce would probably have done the same in a similar situation, Tony pulled the ’just above minimum pay’-look off with ease.

  
Before Bruce could get to stopping Tony from accidentally (or purposely) telling everyone present one of his biggest secrets, he spotted someone in the crowd behind Thanos. Someone else was making their way through the audience with ease, but once the crowd finally split to reveal who it was she didn’t announce her presence like Tony had. She snuck up behind Thanos in less than a second and before any of his supporters had managed to make a single sound he was alerted to her presence via a punch to the side of his skull.

  
He fell to the ground and did not get up, but that didn’t appear to faze the girl at all. She was on her knees next to him just moments after he hit the ground and grabbed the back of his head, raising it just enough to punch him again.

  
”If you ever” She snarled ”Touch my brothers again, I’ll kill you” She finished her sentence with another punch, then dropped Thanos and got up. Almost like an afterthought, she kicked him before turning to the audience.

  
”Why the fuck are you people still here. Get out!” Everyone obliged (Someone was even bright enough to help Thanos out of there) and within five minutes the parking lot was empty save for her, Thor, his supporters and a young boy who Bruce guessed must be Loki, who looked extremely pleased.

  
His older sister- _was her name Hela?_ \- on the other hand, did not.

  
”What is wrong with you?” Thor seemed to shrink under his sister’s gaze ”It’s bad enough to get yourself hurt but you don’t have to go involving the rest of your stupid friends”

  
”We were just trying to-” Bruce tried to cut in, but was met with a look cold enough to create dry ice out of thin air.

  
”You’re new. Who are you?” She looked like she was judging everything about Bruce, but he suspected that might just be her standard expression.

  
”I think that’s Bruce” Loki narrowed his eyes ”I was dropped off early at school because of you” Thor turned bright red and said something incoherent that no one seemed to understand, but Hela appeared to have come to some conclusions because she sighed and her expression softened slightly. She walked over to Loki and put a hand on his shoulder.

  
”I’ll drive him home first. Stay here and try not to fight anyone”

  
The two of them headed off towards a motorbike parked a few meters away. Hela handed Loki a helmet and after checking that he was secure on the bike she got on herself and with a loud roar they disappeared down the street. Korg said something about having to feed his dog, Brunhilde wanted a drink and Tony excused himself, saying he’d wait for Bruce somewhere else.

  
” _This is your chance_ ” He mouthed at Bruce before disappearing.

  
Was that true?

  
Bruce immediately felt his pulse quicken when it dawned on him that it was just him and Thor left until Hela returned to pick Thor up. He had sat down on the sidewalk, looking like he was deep in thought and Bruce decided to go pick up his backpack to give himself some time to think things through properly. It didn’t help much and he ended up sitting down next to Thor without much of a plan at all.

  
”Hey” Thor flinched, like Bruce had startled him.

  
”Bruce, hey. I didn’t know you were still here”

  
”Just wanted to make sure you’re okay. No broken ribs or anything?” The punch he had taken to his side had looked pretty bad and while Bruce wasn’t a medical professional he figured he had reason to worry.

  
”I’m fine” Thor gestured dismissively ”I’ve broken ribs before, hurts way more than this”

  
”Really?”

  
”Oh yes, it was Hela’s fault, actually”

  
”Do I wanna know?”

  
”It’s not really a fun story”

  
”Oh okay”

  
The two fell silent and Thor once again looked like he turned inward. Like he was thinking about some big problem that he wanted to solve despite it not actually being his. Bruce, on the other hand, was only focusing on the way Thor’s brows creased and how blue his eyes were. He felt hopeless.

  
”Thank you” Thor suddenly blurted out ”You were amazing back then” He did one of his half-smiles and Bruce felt like he was melting from the praise.

  
”It was nothing really. I didn’t think I’d be able to do much to be honest”

  
”Well you did, didn’t you? You should have seen how he looked when you hit him” For a second, Thor just laughed at the image, then his expression grew fond as he locked his eyes with Bruce’s ”Thank you, honestly”

  
”I want to kiss you” Bruce said it without thinking and _oh my god it was definitely the wrong thing to say_ because Thor turned beet red and his voice was at least three octaves higher when he responded.

  
”You- You want to _what_?”

  
”I mean not unless you want to as well! Or uh, I get it if you don’t I mean I just kinda jumped to conclusions and you have _very_ nice lips-”

  
”That’s…” Thor buried his face in his hands ”You seriously said that, I thought I was hallucinating”

  
That would probably have been a good excuse, Bruce realized, but his brain was not being cooperative at the moment, so instead he said ”You weren’t. I’m sorry”

  
”Don’t be”

  
”Sorry. For being sorry, I guess” The whole situation was getting increasingly ridiculous, but Bruce held on to the slim hope that if things got even weirder Thor might forget about the whole kissing thing or maybe he’d blame it on-

  
”I’d really like to kiss you as well”

  
It was as if everything in Bruce’s head went blank. All he could do for a brief moment was look at Thor, who was still blushing, and take a deep, shaky breath.

  
Without a word he took Thor’s hand, the sound of his heartbeat growing stronger with every second until it sounded like a huge waterfall in his skull, and carefully lean forward. Thor met him halfway and their lips brushed against each other for barely a second, but it was enough to send shivers up Bruce’s spine. He slowly brought his free hand to the side of Thor’s face, feeling the slightest hint of a stubble beneath his fingers.

  
”That was really nice”

  
”Let’s do it again”

  
”Yeah let’s do it”

  
This time they were both a lot more confident, angling their heads so that they could get even closer. The kisses were still soft and only accompanied by feathery touches to each other’s faces, but that was honestly fine with Bruce.

  
It was just nice to be sitting here, kissing Thor and forgetting everything he’d been worrying about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't that sweet? I sure hope you'll tell me if you thought so!  
> (Also fun fact: the snowplow story is actually something my mom did)


	5. The Day After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Everything Is Totally Fine :)

When Thor woke up he was aching all over. It took a moment for him to remember why, but that was quickly overshadowed by what had happened after. Thor’s heart immediately sped up at the memory and he pulled his comforter over his head, feeling a dopey grin spread across his face.

  
He reached for his phone to text Bruce, well, anything. That was when he noticed he had three missed calls from his parents.

  
_Great._

  
For a second he thought about ignoring it so that he wouldn’t have to lie about his fight with Thanos, but that would only work for so long. Frigga wasn’t one to give up if she decided to get in touch with her kids, so she’d most likely call again soon. Better to just bite the bullet and call her immediately. He left the bed and walked downstairs to the kitchen, checked if Loki was there and, upon finding he wasn’t, called Frigga. Thor drummed his fingers against the table as he waited for her to pick up. It didn’t take more than five signals, as per usual.

  
”Hello darling, did I wake you up?”

  
”Not at all-” Thor trailed off and bit back a hiss. His upper lip hurt when he spoke and he was pretty sure it had started bleeding again. And of course Frigga had noticed that something was off about his speech.

 

”Is everything okay? You sound a little odd?”

  
”I’m fine I just…uh, I fell. Hurt my lip”

  
”Are you okay?” While it was better than telling his mother about the fight she still sounded too worried for his taste. ”Have Hela take a look at it will you”

  
”Yes of course” Thor lied.

  
”She’s being nice to you, right?”

  
”Could have been worse” Thor was still not sure what to think of Hela’s surprise appearance the day before. He didn’t think anyone else would call beating someone up an act of kindness, but it had been undeniably helpful.

  
”Make sure to remind her to take good care of you, alright”

  
”We’ll see” Thor muttered under his breath as Frigga continued.

  
”Is Loki up yet?”

  
”Nope. I’ll tell him to call you when he is though” He made a mental note to tell Loki about his lie.

  
”Alright honey, just make sure he doesn’t get up too late okay”

  
”Okay”

  
”Love you”

  
”Love you too”

  
Frigga hung up and Thor sighed in relief at not getting caught. He was far from the best liar in the family (That crown went to Loki, by the way, with their father at a close second place) but he had somehow managed to pull it off. He walked back upstairs to Loki’s room while texting Bruce.

  
_’Thanks for yesterday <3’ _

  
Was the heart too much? He instantly felt a wave of panic and was halfway through an apology when he got a response.

  
_’Thanks yourself <333’_ Relieved, he erased the apology and started thinking of something else to say. He had been told, on many occasions, that he wasn’t very good at texting. Especially from Brunhilde.

  
_’Hey wanna have lunch w me today?’_

  
_’I’d love to <3’ _

  
Thor squealed in delight, which was out of the ordinary. Completely. Totally. He quickly informed his friends that they were getting company for lunch and then carefully knocked on Loki’s door.

  
”You may enter” Loki’s voice was surprisingly loud and clear for how early it was, but Thor supposed that was due to his brother’s dramatic nature. He did as told and stepped inside the already well-lit room. Loki was painting his nails in a dark green shade and his hair looked like it had been recently washed.

  
”Up already?” Thor raised an eyebrow.

  
”Oh yeah I’ve been up for hours. Gotta put on my warpaint” He wriggled his fingers, making the polished nails glitter in the sunlight. Then he glared at Thor ”I sure as shit hope you’re not gonna take me to school an hour early again”

  
”I just want to make sure you get there safely”

  
”Oh no don’t worry about that, Hela is taking me” Loki blew nonchalantly at his nails as if he hadn’t just said one of the most shocking sentences ever.

  
”She…She is?”

  
”Any problems with that, blondie?” Thor jumped and quickly turned to Hela who had leaned against the doorframe. She somehow managed to look both amused and pissed off at the same time.

  
”No of course not, I was just a little surprised that’s all. You know, seeing as the first time we were allowed within five feet of your bike was yesterday” Thor narrowed his eyes, but Hela didn’t seem to notice or care.

  
”Well, the rules have been updated. Loki has motorbike privileges now”

  
”Just make sure he wears a helmet”

  
”Of course! Who do you take me for?”

  
”I’m not wearing a helmet!” Loki cut in, all the while aggressively shaking his fingers to get his nails to dry faster.

  
”Yes you are” Thor glared at him ”Mom called, by the way. I told her I’d tell you to call her back”

  
”Alright. Are we telling her?” Loki looked hesitant. He was most likely thinking along the same lines as Thor: worrying Frigga was never a good idea.

  
”I’d rather she didn’t find out about the fight”

  
”Oh yeah. That’s definitely a good idea. What’s your excuse for sounding like you’re practicing ventriloquy?”

  
”I fell and hurt my lip. Real clumsy of me” Thor licked his upper lip and noted that it still hurt.

  
”Got it” Loki nodded ”I’ll tell mom we just went to the principal about Thanos”

  
Thor froze in surprise for a moment. Then he smiled proudly.

  
”I’m glad you’re telling her” He said softly. He didn’t want to make a big deal of it, but there was no denying it made him endlessly happy that Loki was talking to their mother about what had happened. Even if it was only part of the story.

  
”Yeah, yeah whatever. Just get to school and kiss some nerds already”

  
Thor blushed, but didn’t deny that it was an excellent plan.

  
He only hoped his hurting lip wouldn’t cause any trouble.

 

 

Brunhilde quickly grew tired of Thor’s talking and yelled at him. He kind of got her point, actually, it had to be pretty tiring to hear him on one hand complain about every part of his body that was hurting and on the other excitedly talk about how fun lunch was going to be. Then again he had acted as moral support during many of her crushes and hangovers, so he felt like she didn’t have the right to complain. Korg preferred to remain neutral.

  
Their argument continued through their morning classes and got loud enough for the teachers to notice at times. By the time it was time for lunch they had managed to piss off both their religion and history teacher (as well as a bunch of other students) but at least they’d come to the conclusion that talking about crushes was always allowed, but complaining about bodily pain should be done more moderately. They still had to cover the subject of crushes that caused bodily pain, but Thor had spotted Bruce and promptly ended the discussion.

  
”Hi!” He said it a little too enthusiastically and quickly shut his mouth at the sharp pain that shot through his lip. Bruce seemed to notice as his expression dropped immediately.

  
”Are you okay?” He raised his hand towards Thor’s mouth but stopped himself halfway as if he only then became aware of what he was doing. A slight blush crept over his cheeks and Thor felt like the same thing was happening to himself.

  
”It’s okay. I’m fine, just a little sore that’s all” Thor smiled as much as he could with his aching lip and he must have looked ridiculous because Brunhilde interrupted them with a heavy sigh.

  
”Can you two _please_ be lovesick somewhere else?”

  
”I think they’re just trying to make me feel miserable about how alone I am” Bruce’s short friend grinned wildly, to Thor’s relief. He’d hate to make Bruce’s friend feel bad ”Bruce is a horrible person, don’t let his soft exterior fool you” The guy _(Tony?)_ continued, once again contradicting his statement by putting an arm over Bruce’s shoulders.

  
”He seems evil enough to me” Brunhilde narrowed her eyes at Bruce ”We should watch our backs Korg, or we might get a backpack thrown at them” The two of them laughed and Bruce joined in hesitantly.

  
”I don’t usually throw backpacks at people”

  
”Oh I could tell” Brunhilde ruffled his hair ”I’ll teach you how to throw properly some time, don’t worry about it”

  
They all sat down and started eating, while maintaining some light conversation. Thor got to hear a lot about the teachers he didn’t have a lot, like Mr Pym and Ms Cho, and was happy to share the current events of the society class. It wasn’t common to get to talk about school stuff like this with someone over lunch, which was a shame. Thor enjoyed answering any questions and telling funny stories about his classmates to someone who hadn’t heard them yet. Though he suspected it was partly because Bruce was listening.

  
”- and then the ancient one knocked Stephen out with hypnosis and _that’s_ why religion is my favorite class” Thor had never understood why Stephen took society since he seemed more like a nature guy, but when he had asked the guy had just said he could study that later in a tone arrogant enough to make Thor unwilling to talk to him ever again.

  
”And I was asleep for the whole thing!” Brunhilde wailed.

  
”I really didn’t pin her as the type” Bruce shook his head in disbelief ”She seems kinda…detached”

  
”Ask her about hypnosis and you’ll see a whole new side of her. Or anything spiritual to be honest” Thor remembered a certain incident where she managed to predict a girl breaking her leg with some oddly named cards. The entire class had freaked out about it and the girl’s parents almost sued. Luckily, everything had been peacefully resolved after the parents talked to the principal for five minutes and decided that they liked being alive. They hadn’t shown up at school since then.

  
Before Thor could get to telling that story, Tony suddenly stood up.

  
”Sorry guys gotta take this call” His phone was buzzing and displaying a number that Thor, obviously, didn’t recognize ”I’ll be right back” He picked up and left the group, who quickly got back to chatting.

  
”Hey about yesterday” Thor lowered his voice so that only Bruce would hear. Brunhilde and Korg were having a discussion about something that sounded like geology, so the risk of them hearing wasn’t overwhelming.

  
”Yeah?” Bruce looked up from his food and Thor was once again reminded of the effect Bruce’s eyes had on him. He had only recently started to understand the expression ”Drowning in someone’s gaze”, and it was- of course- because of Bruce. His eyes were just so deep. Like Thor would be able to find so much behind them if he only went looking. He swallowed.

  
”Well we- We kind of…kissed. Right?”

  
Bruce blushed. ”Right”

  
”And I was wondering, I mean does that means you like me or-” _Wrong phrase_ ”I mean I assume you do, otherwise you wouldn’t have wanted to kiss me but I just-”

  
”Hey” Bruce grabbed his hand ”Calm down”

  
That was easier said than done. Thor still wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing, and Bruce touching him really wasn’t helping him gather his thoughts. At all.

  
”Maybe you don’t want to talk about this now?”

  
”Now is as good as ever, right?” Bruce was still blushing, but he was looking so reassuring that Thor somehow managed to take a deep breath and form coherent sentences again.

  
”Right” _Deep breaths_ ”Does that mean that we’re- Do you _want_ us to be dating?”

  
”Yes! If you want to, of course” Bruce seemed to have added the last bit on, almost as a force of habit. Like he wasn’t used to deciding much.

  
”Why wouldn’t I want to?” Thor was actually genuinely curious enough. At the top of his head he couldn’t come up with any good reasons for not wanting to date Bruce ”You’re smart, funny and super cute, also you’re always really nice to me and-”

  
”I can’t believe you just said that” Bruce acted like it was news to him.

  
”I’m just being honest with you” Thor smiled fondly, and almost instinctively he leaned closer. Bruce did the same and-

 

 

”-and then he _kissed_ me, Loki! Again!” Thor grinned at his brother, who didn’t look very interested in the story if he was being honest. Thor didn’t care though. He was too busy being ecstatic about the whole thing and waving his ice cream spoon in the air like a conductor stick ”Loki you don’t understand! This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me!”

  
Loki sighed deeply and folded his arms across his chest ”Alright” He said ”What happened after that?” It still didn’t sound like he was _that_ interested but Thor figured it was better than nothing.

  
”Well we waited for Tony for like, half an hour, but he didn’t come back so we had to hurry to class. We barely had time to say goodbye but we texted through pretty much all of class”

  
”You’re gonna fail school” Loki said, matter-of-factly.

  
”It’ll be worth it”

  
”I’m not even going to argue with you about that”

  
”Good” Thor felt his phone buzz in his pocket and checked to find a text from Bruce ”Now if you’ll excuse me I have a text from my _boyfriend_ to reply to”

  
”God that’s gonna get annoying” Loki muttered. He got up and looked like he was about to turn off the radio, but something on it must have caught his interest because instead he turned the volume up. Thor didn’t pay much attention to it, too focused on his phone.

  
_’Tony’s locked me out >:( Can I come over?’_

  
_’Ofc <33 Do you want me to pick you up?’_

  
_’That’d be great :D’_

  
”I’m going out!” Thor grabbed his jacket and sent off a text to ask where they were gong to meet up.

  
”Alright” Loki was still listening to the radio. It was something about a car crash and a dead businessman, but Thor couldn’t muster any interest whatsoever at the moment.

  
He had better things to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT'S HAPPENING BECAUSE I'M SCARED I'M NOT BEING CLEAR ENOUGH  
> Tell me if you get what's happening in the comments and idk tell me if you got any enjoyment out of this chapter cheers mates


	6. A Sharp Turn

Thor’s house was huge.

  
Not really in size, but rather in how much empty space there was. There were just a few personal items laying around in the common areas, which made the rooms look uninhabited and well, too big for their own good. Like something out of an ad for furniture.

  
The siblings’ rooms, on the other hand, definitely felt like homes. The first one they visited was Loki’s, which turned out to be a surprisingly bright room with an excellent view of the forest behind the house. The walls were covered in posters that upon closer examination weren’t for obscure bands as Bruce had guessed, but rather stage plays and old movies. When he asked about them Loki immediately lit up and started reciting entire scenes from whatever poster Bruce happened to stand closest to at the moment. It was surprisingly fun seeing Loki switch between different characters in the blink of an eye, with different speech patterns and moods. Thor beamed with pride through it all.

  
Hela wasn’t as fun to hang out with. She was hard to read, even for Bruce, and always seemed vaguely threatening. But she did answer every question Bruce asked, even if she never really evaluated. By the time Bruce and Thor left the room Bruce had gotten to know that she played in a band, had experience with throwing knives and had once dyed her hair green. That was about it.

  
Thor insisted that there was nothing more important to know as he led Bruce to his room, furthest away from the stairs.

  
”It’s a little messy” He said apologetically as he opened the door and let Bruce enter.

  
It was like crossing a line. It felt intimate, because Bruce could see so much of Thor in there. Both things he recognized as parts of Thor’s life, but also things he didn’t even know Thor liked that still made perfect sense. Like the Wonder Woman poster above his bed.

  
”She’s cool” Was all bruce could say.

  
”She is!” Thor lit up in an instant, obviously overjoyed to get a chance to talk about her ”Have you seen the movie?”

  
”Not yet, but I’d like to” Bruce remembered seeing trailers for it back when it was coming out, but he’d never gone to the cinema and after that it had managed to slip his mind.

  
”Do you want to watch it now?”

  
”You have it?”

  
”Of course!” Thor’s face suddenly fell ”Just know that I might cry”

  
”It’s okay” Bruce had certainly not expected that. He chuckled and grabbed Thor’s hand ”I’ll find a way to cheer you up, don’t worry”

  
Thor pouted slightly ”Kiss me better?” He said it jokingly, but Bruce wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity like that. Without giving himself any time to get nervous he grabbed Thor’s shoulders and heaved himself up on his toes so that he could reach Thor’s lips with his own for a quick peck.

  
”Yes” He said and felt himself starting to blush. Though he couldn’t imagine it was anywhere close to how Thor was looking, completely frozen and red as a stoplight. Bruce just barely managed to bite back a laugh.

  
”Are you okay?” A thought suddenly struck him ”Oh my god your lip I shouldn’t-” He was cut off by Thor leaning down to kiss him.

  
”My lip is _fine_ ” He murmured against Bruce’s mouth ”That’s what kissing it better does”

  
”I sure hope so” Bruce murmured back before letting Thor kiss him again.

 

 

”Should I get some popcorn? I think we’ve got some microwave ones lying around” Thor was scanning the tv shelf for the movie, while Bruce had sat down in the surprisingly comfortable couch. It went well with the IKEA-catalogue theme the majority of the house seemed to follow when it came to looks, but Bruce still somehow felt like he was sinking into it rather than sitting uncomfortably on top like it was a stretcher.

  
”Popcorn sounds great. Do you need any help?” Bruce made a motion to get up but Thor stopped him.

  
”I’ll handle it, don’t worry” He carefully kissed Bruce’s cheek, like he was still unsure if he was allowed to do it ”It’ll take me five minutes, tops”

  
”Well do you need any moral support?”

  
”Now that you mention it…”

  
Bruce smiled and got up from the couch, then followed Thor downstairs to the kitchen.

  
Someone had evidently left the radio on. It was in the middle of reading a news story when Bruce and Thor got within earshot of it.

  
_”-the driver had to take a sharp turn for reasons yet unknown. We have yet to receive any details, but from what is currently known he crashed into the other car from the side and sent them both off the road. Police are currently investigating the scene-”_

  
”Must be more about that thing Loki was listening to earlier” Thor said, more to himself. Then he raised his voice, addressing Bruce ”Something about a businessman in a car crash, I wasn’t paying much attention. Did you hear anything about it?”

  
”I don’t think so…” Bruce went back to listening as Thor got to work on finding the popcorn.

  
_”The driver of the first car is currently in emergency treatment for severe damage to the upper body. Howard Stark and his wife Maria passed away earlier today”_

  
Bruce’s heart stopped.

  
He could hear Thor rummaging around in the kitchen, but the voice on the radio had faded into a low mumbling. The room that had felt so overly spacious when he got there suddenly turned suffocating, the walls pushing closer from each side.

  
_Howard Stark and his wife Maria passed away earlier today._ The sentence repeated itself in his brain, in the monotone voice of the radio host.

  
”I have to go home” He managed to croak, despite feeling like his throat had tied itself together. Thor immediately stopped his searching.

  
”Is everything alright?” Bruce could only shake his head in response. Thor crossed the kitchen in what looked like just a few steps and put his arms around Bruce, stroking his hair soothingly. ”I’ll drive you. Can you move?”

  
Bruce nodded again and took a careful step forward. He felt like his legs were going to give out, but he didn’t have the time to worry about that now. He had to focus on getting back, and only that. That was the key to handling situations like this, he had learned over many years. Find something to focus on and let it distract him from everything else going on around him.

 

 

The bike ride was silent. Bruce tried to keep his breathing even and held onto Thor like he was about to fall off. Thor must have noticed, because he kept a calm pace the entire way. Now and then he’d let go of the handle with one hand to reach for Bruce’s, squeezing it reassuringly. Bruce squeezed back and tried not to tremble. It wasn’t like he knew Howard and Maria well, but he knew what it was like to lose a parent. And he knew Tony. Knew how his best friend handled situations like this.

  
The road home felt endless.

 

 

When they arrived at his apartment the lights were out in every window visible from the street. Bruce thought he could hear the faint sound of music, but it could come from anywhere. He carefully stepped off the bike, relieved to find that his legs worked, and turned to Thor.

  
”I’m sorry, I can’t tell you what’s going on. Please just go home and try not to worry”

  
”That might be asking too much” Thor reached out to stroke Bruce’s cheek ”Are you sure you don’t want to tell me?”

  
The thing was, he wanted to. He wanted to scream and cry and tell Thor everything, but he couldn’t. Not now. So he shook his head.

  
”I’ll be fine” He whispered, then turned on his heel and ran towards the entrance.

  
He took the stairs two steps at a time, hearing the music grow stronger with each passing second. By the time he reached his floor he could clearly make out the lyrics.

  
_”Back in the back of a Cadillac_

  
_Number one with a bullet, I'm a power pack”_

  
”Tony!” He pushed the doorbell but nothing happened. For probably the fifth time that day he mentally slapped himself for never getting to making a copy of their keys. Even if they technically weren’t allowed to it would have been fairly easy to it at home, but they’d never really had the need. Most of the time they got home at the same time and it was rare for either of them to be somewhere the other couldn’t just stop by and pick the keys up.

  
Bruce felt like he was about to cry in frustration as he banged the door. Still no reaction. Back In Black started over and Bruce briefly wondered for how long it had been playing on repeat when he suddenly heard footsteps. A guy about his age was heading up the stairs and when he spotted Bruce there was a hint of recognition in his eyes.

  
”You’re Bruce right? Banner?”

  
Bruce nodded and the guy extended a hand to him.

  
”James Rhodes, it’s nice to finally meet you” He cast a glance at the closed door ”The circumstances could have been better, of course” For a second, he rummaged around in his pocket before finally displaying a key labeled ’For emergencies’ in neat handwriting.

  
”Let’s just hope the place isn’t completely wrecked” He sighed as he opened the door.

  
It wasn’t, but no one could call it intact either. The first thing Bruce noticed was Tony’s phone on the floor. It had been picked apart systematically and every piece of it was spread out across the hallway carpet, next to the parts of the doorbell that had been accessible from the inside. It seemed as though every item in the hallway that ran on electricity had gotten the same treatment. Just like the living room and parts of the kitchen.

  
Tony was in the middle of taking the fridge apart when Bruce and James stepped inside.

  
The music was unbearably loud in the kitchen, but Tony didn’t even seem to notice it. Usually he’d be moving rhythmically, almost dancing, as he worked, not like he did now. He looked like he was in a trance. The smell of alcohol suddenly hit Bruce and he felt sick. He traced the music to Tony’s computer, sat on the kitchen table and with shaky hands he paused it. Tony froze in the middle of his movement.

  
”Tony” James said it softly, as if not to startle him.

  
”Rhodey! I’m so glad you’re here! We have so much to talk about” Tony sounded overly cheerful. Like a character from a TV show for little kids did when describing the most mundane things in a way that would make them seem exciting. He still hadn’t looked up from the fridge ”A lot has happened since last time”

  
”I know”

  
”Have I told you about my housemate?”

  
”Yes you have”

  
”He’s great, you should really meet him some time”

  
”We already have” Bruce said, his voice impressively steady considering he still felt like he was about to throw up.

  
”Bruce” Tony’s voice was starting to tremble. He slowly turned around to face James and Bruce ”I’m sorry. I broke the rules- I broke the house rules I’m so sorry”

  
Bruce remembered when they had set those rules. It was the first time he’d told Tony about his dad and the first time he heard anything about Tony’s time at his previous school. Not many details had been exchanged between the two, but in the end they had decided that drinking in their house was strictly forbidden. Not that there was any drinking outside the house either. None of them went to any parties and Tony had seemed determined to stay clean after hearing Bruce’s story. How Tony had even managed to get hold of any alcohol was a mystery.

  
Right now, Bruce couldn’t find it in himself to care about the house rules. He crouched down next to Tony and tried to breathe through his mouth to avoid the smell.

  
”It’s okay. It’s fine, forget the rules” He was joined by James, who put an arm around Tony’s shoulders.

  
”Tones, can you stand up for me? Stane wants to meet you at the hospital” Bruce could tell that James didn’t like the idea, but Tony didn’t seem to notice. He nodded and slowly stood up.

  
That’s when his tears started falling.

  
At first he was silent but then came a sob. And another. And another.

  
He suddenly threw his arms around James, gripping his shirt like he was about to fall. His sobs started turning into barely human-sounding screeches, each one louder than the previous. Bruce shuddered. He didn’t think he’d ever heard anyone cry like that. Not even himself, even when he’d wanted to.

  
It took Tony a while to calm down. Even as James led him down the stairs to a car parked outside the apartment complex tears were streaming down his face and now and then he’d struggle to breathe evenly. Bruce followed the two of them down, not sure what he could do but help James get Tony into the car.

  
”Will you be okay all by yourself?” James shut the door to the backseat.

  
”I think so. I’ve got loads to clean up, so that’ll take my mind off things”

  
”Sorry about leaving you like this, but they’re being very strict about who can come to the hospital right now”

  
”Yeah I get that” Bruce didn’t think he’d be able to handle that anyway. Hospitals creeped him out and were the last thing he needed at the moment.

  
Him and James exchanged numbers so that the latter would be able to keep him updated, seeing as Tony’s phone was currently unusable. Bruce stayed where he was for a long time after the car had disappeared from sight. He stared at the corner where they had turned right, just barely noticing that it was starting to rain. Some people passed by him and gave him weird looks, but at least no one tried talking to him.

  
When he finally went back inside he considered eating something, but quickly found that he had no appetite. So instead he started putting everything back together. He started with the fridge, but didn’t manage to raise it up again. How Tony had managed to tip it over without hurting himself was beyond him. He chose not to think of it and focused on the rest of the house instead. By the time he was done it was past midnight and Bruce sat down in the middle of the living room, wondering how he was going to get any sleep. At the moment it just seemed like he was going to stay up all night doing schoolwork, but before that he wanted to call Thor.

  
Just as he was about to dial the number he was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. It sounded a little different from what it used to, probably a side effect from its earlier treatment. Bruce reminded himself to call Thor later as he went to open the door.

  
Outside was Steve. He was soaked and looked exhausted.

  
”Are you Bruce?”

  
”That’s me, yes” Bruce was mildly surprised at the amount of people he didn’t know showing up at his door today ”Would it be okay if you came over some other time? I’m not really in a talkative mood right now”

  
”I’m sorry. It’s just, I need to ask you something” Upon closer inspection Steve had definitely been crying. Bruce wasn’t sure if he could handle more crying people today, but Steve looked too much like a sad puppy for him to refuse.

  
”Come inside. I’ll make you some tea”

  
”Thank you” Steve smiled. He followed Bruce in and sat down at the kitchen table while Bruce started boiling the water.

  
”We only have one flavor, is blueberry okay?”

  
”That sounds great, thank you”

  
Bruce was not used to having people over, especially people he didn’t know. He knew who Steve was, of course, but they’d never talked or really interacted in any way before now. To be fair, he wasn’t even sure if this counted as interacting, considering Steve was just staring blankly out the window.

  
”Is everything alright?” Bruce felt compelled to ask, even if he really didn’t want to know what horrific events were weighing down on Steve’s soul.

  
”Not really, if I’m being honest” Steve chuckled. It sounded hollow ”I suppose you’ve heard about the car crash”

  
”Not much” Bruce said cautiously. He didn’t want to reveal the detail he knew, that Steve most assuredly did not know about. The detail that had left the very kitchen they were in, just a few hours ago, to be specific. Tony had made sure that no one knew who his parents were when he started attending the school under a faked surname. Bruce sometimes suspected that the only reason Tony had told him was because of how little he ever talked to anyone else, meaning there wasn’t much risk of him getting the secret out.

  
”Well basically this really important businessman was killed. His wife too, actually” Steve sighed ”And it just so happens that the guy driving the other car was my best friend”

  
_Oh great._ As if things weren’t complicated enough already.

  
”Are they okay?”

  
”I don’t know. Last I checked the doctors said he might never use his arm again” Steve looked like he was on the verge of tears for a second, but he managed to collect himself ”That’s not why I’m here though”

  
”Why are you here then?” It might have come out a bit harshly, but Bruce didn’t like the subject of the car crash at all. Too risky for his taste. That didn’t mean he didn’t feel like the worst human on planet earth when hurt flashed across Steve’s face, of course.

  
Steve seemed to readjust himself slightly on the couch before answering.

  
”I saw Tony at the hospital” He said flatly ”Then I overheard some people talking and I just needed to know…” Steve trailed off for a moment.

  
Bruce knew what was coming. He could have come up with any number of lies in the moments Steve was silent, but it was one o’ clock in the morning and his day had been an emotional rollercoaster so he just braced himself.

  
”Is it true that they were Tony’s parents? The couple who died?”

  
Bruce nodded slowly and Steve buried his head in his hands. He wasn’t a loud cryer, but Bruce still noticed. He poured the hot water into a mug and pushed it in front of Steve.

  
”You’ll catch a cold if you don’t warm up”

  
”Thank you” Steve wiped his face and carefully blew on his tea. Then he suddenly looked up at Bruce ”Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

  
”Shouldn’t you?” Bruce put a sugar cube in his cup and stirred.

  
”Can’t really sleep when my best friend’s at the hospital”

  
”Well there’s the answer to your question”

  
Steve looked puzzled for a second, then started giggling hysterically. He went on for a long time, his entire body shaking with laughter and Bruce couldn’t help but join in, even if he didn’t find it that funny.

  
”Guess we’re in the same boat”

  
Bruce took a sip of tea ”I guess so”

  
”But honestly, I’m sorry I showed up like this” Steve’s face had grown serious again ”They didn’t allow me at the hospital anymore and I didn’t know what to do so I just started walking on a whim and-”

  
”You _walked_ all the way here? No wonder you’re soaked” Bruce probably sounded like someone’s mom, he realized, but that someone’s mom had the right to be worried. Steve would be lucky if he got away with just a cold.

  
”I had to stop every fifty meters or so to take my medicine, so it took longer than expected” He sounded a little defensive.

  
”What medicine?”

  
In response, Steve fished an inhaler out of his pocket and Bruce sighed deeply.

  
”You should probably go home and get some warm clothes, do you have anyone who can pick you up?”

  
”I don’t know if any of them are up right now” Steve squirmed, obviously not comfortable with asking anyone to drive him at this hour. Bruce would probably have felt the same in that situation, but he wasn’t a completely soaked asthmatic god knew how far from home.

  
”Try and call them, or get a cab. I’m not letting you walk home in this weather” For a second, Steve looked like he was about to protest, but then he obeyed and started scrolling through his contacts as Bruce started cleaning up.

 

 

At half past two a girl named Natasha showed up, looking like she didn’t mind being woken up in the middle of the night at all. As they left, Bruce felt an eerie silence fall over the apartment. There was no talking, no music, not even the low humming of the fridge that he never really thought about. He stood for a moment and simply let himself take it all in before finally calling Thor. He got sent straight to voicemail, as expected.

  
”Hey, It’s me. I’m okay, things aren’t-” He thought about the evening ”They’re not as bad as they could have been. I might not show up in school tomorrow, but that’s just because I haven’t slept at all tonight. I’m sorry if I made you worry” He didn’t know what else to say, so after a way too long silence he just hung up.

  
For the first time that night he was starting to feel hungry.


	7. Life Of The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I introduce a fuckton of characters because I think that's fun to do don't @ me

_”Hey, It’s me. I’m okay, things aren’t- They’re not as bad as they could have been. I might not show up in school tomorrow, but that’s just because I haven’t slept at all tonight. I’m sorry if I made you worry”_

  
Thor waited to see if Bruce had left him anything more in his message, but after half a minute it just cut off. The messages had been received around three o’ clock, so Bruce must have been exhausted. He might have even fallen asleep in the middle of the message.

 

For a second Thor considered calling Bruce, but he ultimately decided against it, not wanting to wake him up.

  
_’I got your vm, did you sleep at all?’_

  
The text didn’t feel like enough. Thor wished he could hold Bruce’s hand, hug him, _anything_ , just as long as they could be close to each other. Conveying emotions through text had never been his forte. It felt too impersonal and distanced. But it couldn’t be helped right now. Thor sighed, put his phone down and ended up staring out the window. Everything in the garden was glistening from the rain the night before and the entire street was filled with puddles. Thor sort of wished he was five again so he could go out and jump in them, but he wouldn’t have had much time regardless. He needed to get to school.

 

 

It was odd how normal everything felt. People were going on about their daily lives, talking about everything from their homework to the car crash yesterday. Apparently one of the sports guys had been involved and wouldn’t show up in school because of it. Nothing out of the ordinary at their school. Thor was well aware of the drinking problem on accounts of part of it being one of his best friends and while he himself wasn’t exactly clean it was nothing compared to what some people did. He’d once seen a guy steal a zamboni and manage to crash it in less than a minute. That party had ended abruptly when the fire department had to show up to save him and no one had seen him in school since. There were a lot of rumors about what had happened to the guy, but all of them had one thing in common- he was supposedly deformed beyond recognition these days. Thor preferred to take all stories with a grain of salt, but the accident had been pretty bad.

  
Luckily, Brunhilde had managed to avoid anything like that despite being a notoriously heavy drinker, though Thor suspected it was just because she was too busy drinking to do anything stupid. And it seemed as though that was what she would be doing tonight.

  
”You do know we have classes tomorrow? Right?” The mention of a party had managed to distract Thor from worrying about Bruce. At least a little.

  
”We start late, I’ll be fine” Brunhilde rolled her eyes ”Besides, Natasha’s gonna be there and she _never_ goes to parties”

  
”Which one’s that?” Thor did his best to keep track of all the girls Brunhilde would talk about, but it tended to get a little difficult.

  
”Sports class, redhead, I bet she can bench me”

  
”Oh alright” Thor had a vague memory of someone like that and if his memory served him right she had certainly not seemed like the type for parties, which explained why Brunhilde would want to take the opportunity.

  
”Well, are you coming or not? Don’t think I haven’t noticed how gloomy you’ve been all day” Brunhilde took a bite of the tasteless gratin and continued between chews ”It might cheer you up, or at least keep your mind off whatever’s going on”

  
”I’ll have to side with Brunhilde on this one” Korg said ”You look like you’ve been through something that was deeply concerning or possibly even hurtful for you”

  
Thor was always amazed at how well Korg could summarize his feelings. He knew he had to respect Bruce’s privacy, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit hurt when his boyfriend wouldn’t tell him what was wrong. Not to mention how worried it made him, of course. Maybe it would be good to get out for a while. He really didn’t like partying in the middle of the week like this, but he could always try and get home early.

  
The more he thought about it the more inviting a few shots of vodka sounded.

 

 

So by the time school was over, Thor headed home for a quick dinner, then immediately back out again. The party was in a park nearby which meant it was going to be cold and full of people no one had invited. _Fun times guaranteed._ Thor sighed and checked the time again. According to the timetable the bus was running fifteen minutes late, something not at all unusual in their little town. That was part of the reason Thor usually preferred to take his bike, but if he took it to the park it’d just end up getting stolen.

  
Then again, if he’d taken his bike he’d at least have gotten to the park on time to meet his friends.

  
When the bus still hadn’t showed up after yet another minute Thor opened his phone again to see if Bruce had responded. There _was_ a chance he could have missed the little buzz after all.  
Still nothing. Thor tried to push the gnawing concern back but it didn’t go very well. He’d probably do a better job if he just stayed at home, Thor realized. At least he’d have something to do then instead of staring into the distance waiting for a stupid bus that just wouldn’t show up.

  
Something did show up, though. Thor could hear the sound of _Hooked on a Feeling_ way before he actually saw the minivan, and even though it was far away he instantly knew who was driving it. Peter Quill and his friends were pretty well-known in the area, especially to the teenagers.

  
At first, Thor thought the van would just pass by him, but surprisingly it slowed down just at the bus stop. The driver seat window rolled down and Peter and Gamora looked out.

  
”Hey Odinsson!” Gamora smiled and Thor hesitantly smiled back ”Heard you fought Thanos”

  
”It didn’t go very well if I’m honest”

  
”Didn’t you beat him up?”

  
”No that was my sister”

  
”I told you!” Peter said ”No offense dude but I had a hard time believing anyone could beat Thanos up by themselves”

  
”His sister obviously could” A voice pitched in from the back of the van. Thor hadn’t really spoken to any of these people before so he couldn’t identify who it was, but it could only be Drax or Rocket, seeing as Groot only spoke in sign language. Thor wasn’t sure if any of them used their legal names, but somehow he doubted any of them would tell him if that was the case.

  
”She could” He nodded.

  
”That’s different, she’s like twenty years old” Peter turned to whoever was speaking in the back and continued bickering. Meanwhile Gamora smiled at Thor again.

  
”Are you going to the party?”

  
”That was my plan, but it looks like my bus isn’t planning on showing up” He shrugged ”So I might go back home”

  
”Do you want a lift? We’ve got space right?” Gamora tapped Peter’s shoulder ”Hey!”

  
”Weren’t we gonna pick up Nebula?”

  
”Oh my god I told you a thousand times, she’s going with Mantis”

  
Thor listened to the two of them argue a bit, but when insults started getting thrown around he cleared his throat, hoping that it’d get them to stop. It worked surprisingly well.

  
”Just hop in” Gamora smiled like nothing had happened, while Peter looked a little less cheerful. Thor decided not to comment on the argument and just did as he was told with a quick ”Thank you”

  
He barely had time to close the door before Peter accelerated and Thor almost fell over.

  
”Sorry” He mumbled to Drax, who had managed to catch him.

  
”Do not fret”

  
”Quit starin’ at him like that” Rocket smacked Drax’s arm ”You’re making him uncomfortable”

  
”I was merely examining him”

  
”Well stop doing that then”

  
The two of them kept on arguing, with Groot occasionally signing an addition that sounded a little more peaceful but ultimately did nothing to stop the bickering. It never sounded like they were truly mad at each other though, Thor realized after about five minutes. With Peter and Gamora ignoring them and Groot’s half-hearted attempts to break things up, it almost felt like a routine. Thor tried to keep up with what was being said for a while but soon started losing track of whose mother was what kind of animal and drifted off…

 

 

He was waken up by Groot, who gestured to the car window where the park entrance could be seen behind a bunch of unkempt bushes. Thor smiled at the kid.

  
_”Thanks for waking me up”_ He signed and Groot’s face immediately lit up.

  
_”You know sign?"_

  
_”A little”_

  
_”That’s so”_ (Here, Groot signed something Thor didn’t understand, so he could only assume it was a curse of some kind) _”cool”_ He finished.

  
_”Don’t get to talk directly to a lot to people?”_

  
_”Rocket usually translates for me”_

  
”Is he up?” Someone shouted from outside. Groot nodded out the window then turned back to Thor.

  
_”We’re here”_

  
The two of them stepped out of the minivan and Thor looked around to see if he’d be able to spot his friends. None of them appeared to be waiting for him.

  
”Is anyone picking you up?” Gamora asked.

  
”I was supposed to meet up with a couple of friends here, but they must have gone on without me” That was understandable, it couldn’t have been any fun for Korg and Brunhilde standing there all by themselves while everyone headed into the park ”I’ll call them, you go ahead”

  
Thor opened his phone and found that he had three missed calls from Korg and when Thor called him back he answered after less than three signals had gone through.

  
”Hey man, sorry for not waiting for you but I had to go back home and check on some stuff”

  
”What’s going on?” Thor gave Gamora a quick wave as she and her friends went through the gate and disappeared into the darkness. They probably had people to meet as well.

  
”Well my mum called and she said Miek’s not moving so I had to check that out. I’m on my way home now, sorry about that”

  
”Oh no, it’s fine” Miek was Korg’s dog, so if he was ill or anything Korg should definitely be there ”Do you know where Bru is?”

  
”I think she went home, but she didn’t tell me why. Have you tried calling her?”

  
”I’ll do that, good luck with Miek”

  
”Thanks bro” Korg hung up and Thor realized how silent it had gotten. The other guys were long gone and no one was showing up at the gate. He tried calling Brunhilde but she wouldn’t pick up. _Great._

  
Thor sighed and put his phone down after checking if he’d gotten any messages from Bruce. Still nothing, of course. He stood by the gates for a while, trying to decide what to do. It was unlikely that any buses would be going on time, which meant that his alternatives were down to walking home, waiting for a bus for hours or going alone to the party and hoping he’d run into someone he knew a little. Perhaps he could catch up with Gamora and her friends?

  
With another sigh he entered the gates and started walking towards the party.

 

 

The first people he spotted were T’Challa from his class, as well as a few of his friends. Thor only recognized one of them, a girl named Okoye. She had her arms wrapped around someone who upon closer investigation turned out to be Natasha.

  
That explained why Brunhilde had left. Thor tried to sneak past the group, but T’Challa spotted him and waved for Thor to come sit with them. Deciding it was no use trying to act like he hadn’t noticed, Thor started walking in T’Challa’s direction.

  
”Thor, I didn’t know you were coming” T’Challa smiled warmly. He didn’t seem drunk at all and it actually didn’t look like anyone on the little picnic blanket was drinking.

  
”I could say the same to you. Don’t think I’ve ever seen you at a party like this” It wasn’t that T’Challa wasn’t popular. He’d get plenty of invitations to different parties, but he’d only show up if it was a celebration of sorts. Nothing like this where people were just partying for the sake of partying.

  
”My cousin is visiting. I’ve been asked to keep an eye on him” T’Challa pointed to a boy a few meters away, who was running around with his arms stretched behind his back. He seemed to be enjoying himself, at least.

  
”And as his loyal friend, I’m here to help him out” Okoye added in.

  
”And I’m just here on accident” Natasha grinned and made herself a little more comfortable in Okoye’s arms.

  
The last member of the group was a guy who seemed preoccupied with a family sized pizza. Thor thought he might have seen him hanging out with Natasha, but he couldn’t be sure when his current knowledge of the guy was limited to ’Likes pizza’.

  
Deciding he wouldn’t find any better company that night, Thor sat down on the blanket and started talking to T’Challa about everything from their parents’ works to crushes. T’Challa was surprisingly easy to talk to. Thor had always found the guy kind of imposing. Not that he was rude in any way, it was just something about the way he acted that made him seem almost royal.  
But in a bit more relaxed environment he turned into the kind of person Thor wanted to talk to about all of his problems with.

  
”I _know_ Bruce can’t tell me, but I just get so worried and I can’t help but feel like I’m not trustworthy enough”

  
”I know how that feels, my father isn’t allowed to tell me much about what he’s working with. Lots of it’s confidential” T’Chaka was a politician, so that wasn’t entirely unexpected, but it must still make T’Challa feel left out. He said it lightheartedly, but from the look on his face it affected him a lot more than he let on.

  
”Hey Nat” The pizza guy, who had introduced himself as Clint, managed to catch Natasha’s attention by throwing a pinecone at her ”Didn’t you meet that Bruce guy yesterday?”

  
”Yeah Steve was at his place, why?”

  
”Did he seem okay to you? My new friend Thor here is worried about him”

  
”I think there was something going on with Tony, Steve seemed pretty upset” That explained a lot, but not why Bruce couldn’t tell him. Then again, it might be a private matter. Tony _had_ seemed like he didn’t want to talk a lot about himself, mainly asking questions and telling Thor how amazing Bruce was during their short encounters.

  
Wasn’t Thor at the party to _not_ think about yesterday’s events?

  
It certainly didn’t look like that was the case anymore.

  
”Did he tell you anything?” Natasha looked a little annoyed with how much of her time was being wasted at people other than Okoye, but still took a moment to think before she answered.

  
”Not that I remember” She shrugged and leaned back against Okoye ”Why don’t you ask Tony instead? I think I saw him around here somewhere”

  
”I’ll do that” Thor stood up and tried to see if he could spot Tony. Most people were hanging out down a hill, where someone had managed to get a loudspeaker to work. The farther from it they stood, the more scattered they got. Some people even stood alone, but Tony wasn’t one of them.

  
”He was acting weird though, so don’t…” Natasha seemed to be looking for the right words ”Don’t expect much, I guess”

  
Thor thanked her, then left the group. He headed down the slope, bumping into a few dancing people along the way. Luckily, no one stopped him. He really wasn’t in the mood for an argument at the moment.

  
At the bottom of the slope he had to start pushing his way through the crowd. It took some asking and a lot of ’Excuse me’-s, but eventually he managed to grab hold of the right jacket and spin Tony around to face him.

  
He looked awful. His hair was a mess and it looked like he was just barely staying awake. His eyes struggled to remain open and it took them surprisingly long to light up with recognition.

  
”Thor. He-ey”

  
”Hey Tony” Thor tried to smile, but a growing uneasiness made it feel forced. Tony didn’t look like he noticed, though.

  
”S’ what brings you here? Lookin’ for Brucie?” There was the slightest tremor at Bruce’s nickname ”He’s not here, I checked”

  
”I need to talk to you” Thor reached out to steady Tony, who was looking alarmingly unsteady on his feet, but he flinched away.

  
”’m listening”

  
”Not here. It’s private”

  
Tony looked like he was considering for a moment, then nodded.

  
”Let’s go somewhere else then”

  
It wasn’t any easier to get out of the crowd than it had been getting in, especially with Tony stopping every now and then to ask someone for a taste of whatever they were drinking. When they finally broke through the worst part Tony almost fell over and Thor was forced to steady him, wether Tony wanted or not. Getting to a more secluded part of the park, hid from the party guests by a few trees, took some stumbling and cursing, but when they did succeed Thor managed to find a tree stump for Tony to sit down on.

  
”How drunk are you?”

  
”Please don’t tell Bruce”

  
That was…certainly not what Thor had expected to hear.

  
”Doesn’t he know you’re here?” He asked. Tony shook his head, then looked down at his feet.

  
”He thinks I’m with Rhodey an’ Rhodey thinks I’m with him” Thor didn’t bother asking who Rhodey was.

  
”Why didn’t you tell any of them?” He tried to sound as calm as possible, pushing the anger at Tony for going behind Bruce’s back down to the part of his mind usually reserved for any complaints he might have about his father.

  
”I wanted a drink” Tony shrugged ”And Bruce can’t know I’m drinking, that’d be-” He trailed off with a shaky breath. For a while, he just sat there swaying, and when he continued it was barely more than a whisper ”You have to swear not to tell him, a’ight”

  
Thor hated lying.

  
”I won’t tell him” He said ”But in turn, can you tell me what’s going on?”

  
Tony furiously shook his head.

  
”I just want to help you” That was true. Or well, partly. He wanted to know what was up with Tony so that he’d know what Bruce was worrying about, but of course he’d also do his best to help out with the situation.

  
”Bruce already knows what’s going on so you don’t have to try an’ find out for him”

  
”I’m not asking for Bruce, I’m asking because I’m _worried_ about you. Both of you” Thor sat down on the ground in front of Tony ”I thought you didn’t go to parties, yet here you are, drinking like the world’s about to end. Something must have happened”

  
”You’ve known me for like, three days” Tony shook his head in disbelief.

  
”Is that any reason to care less? Listen, I know you might not want to talk about it but I know for a fact that talking usually helps”

  
”It’s not that I don’ wanna talk it’s just, I _can’t_ ” Tony looked up and met Thor’s eyes, for probably the first time since they’d left the party. His expression was almost pleading, like Thor could figure out a solution to…whatever the problem actually _was._

  
”Why can’t you tell me?” Tony immediately broke the eye contact. A thought struck Thor ”Is anyone stopping you?”

  
Tony was silent. For a moment, Thor wondered if he hadn’t heard the question, but that obviously wasn’t the case. Tony just wouldn’t answer. He had gone back to staring at his feet and the only movement he made was some anxious fidgeting with his sleeves.

  
”There’s no one-” He finally started, but had to stop to steady his voice with a deep, trembling breath ”No one to do that, anymore”

  
Thor could only stare in confusion as Tony started sobbing. He still didn’t really get it, but he knew better than to ask at the moment. Come to think of it he probably shouldn’t have asked in the first place. Shit.

  
”You don’t have to talk if it makes you feel bad” He said, slightly panicked ”It was stupid of me to-”

  
”’s fine” Tony cut him off, wiping some tears off his cheeks ”You’re a really great guy, y’know. I can see why Bruce likes you so much”

  
Thor didn’t know what to do with the compliment, because at the moment it just felt heartbreaking. Tony sitting there with puffy eyes, being more sincere than Thor had ever seen him. He kept speaking before Thor could respond.

  
”’s probably gonna get out soon anyway, but I’d ’preciate if you didn’t tell anyone this”

  
Thor nodded.

  
”I’ve been tellin’ people my last name is Cappelletti for, what, half a year now. Ever since I transferred here. That’s not true, though. Like, at all” Thor had to hold himself back from asking a million questions at that, not wanting to interrupt Tony ”I dunno if you’ve been followin’ the news lately but-”

  
Some part of Thor’s mind made the connection, but he couldn’t for the love of god spell it out as an actual thought. All he could do was hold his breath as Tony once again paused to wipe his face. Then he stretched his hand out in a greeting that could have felt almost comical in any other situation.

  
”Name’s Tony Stark, nice to meet you”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's one major secret out at least, still a few to go though... Also I literally don't know shit about sign language so that's a thing  
> Please comment and yadda yadda, you know the drill


	8. Taking a Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we finally get a damn break-ish and Bruce is the hero

Bruce couldn’t leave the apartment.

  
At first he’d been annoyed with himself for not asking for the keys from Tony, but as he was eating breakfast he realized that it was the perfect reason to stay at home. He couldn’t have left the house, even if he wanted to.

  
After a quick call to the school he’d turned off his phone to avoid any distractions and spent the morning reading every newspaper he could come across. Reading about the accident was probably the worst thing to do, but he wanted a better concept of what had happened and how much was getting reported. Luckily, none of the articles mentioned Steve’s friend, but there was just enough about Tony for Bruce to start to worry about how notable his absence in school would be today.

  
Until this point Tony had relied on something the two of them had dubbed the Clark Kent effect. Basically, if you threw as normal clothes as possible on a guy who was known for being extraordinary people wouldn’t make much of any likeness because it was just too impossible. Anthony Edward Stark was the genius son of a billionaire, while Antonio Cappelletti was just the guy from school. It didn’t matter if the two of them shared nicknames, that could easily be played of as a funny coincidence and would at most spark some rumors than no one took seriously.

  
But now those rumors might get a little more attention.

  
When Bruce had run out of newspapers he’d opened his laptop and started going through the social media accounts of people in his class, then more people in his year. At most he’d find ’R.I.P.’-s and such, and it looked like most people were asking where Bucky was. Bruce felt a twinge of sympathy for the guy, but most of all he was relieved that attention was being directed elsewhere.

  
It wasn’t until dinner that he took a break, putting his computer to charge for the third time that day. Or well, dinner was an overstatement. His appetite had left again and eating alone felt weird as hell, so he ended up just barely finishing a sandwich, then immediately got back to browsing.

  
He’d been doing that when Steve rang the doorbell.

  
He briefly explained that all his friends were at a party somewhere that he hadn’t wanted to go to, but that he didn’t want to be alone either. He’d brought fast food as well and when he asked Bruce if he’d eaten yet Bruce meant to lie, but somehow he ended up saying ”I kinda forgot about dinner, to be honest”

  
That had made Steve frown with worry and before Bruce knew it he was being ushered to eat slowly cooling fries at his own dinner table by a soccer guy he barely knew. It had been surprisingly pleasant. Bruce had expected the evening to consist of another mildly awkward and tearful conversation about their respective best friends, but in the end they’d mainly just…talked. In fact, three hours later they were still talking.

  
”I actually used to have a crush on the history teacher” Steve looked a little embarrassed, but Bruce completely understood him. Ms Carter was strict, but not mean like some teachers, and her classes were one of the few in the society program that Bruce found interesting. He suspected it was because of how well she described different events. She could make any battle sound like the final act of an epic movie trilogy.

  
”Really?”

  
”Yup. I even tried to get behind in history so she’d help me out” Steve chuckled ”She noticed, of course, but luckily she never figured out why I was doing it”

  
”Oh god that would have been awkward” Bruce shuddered ”So what happened after that? Did you make another attempt?”

  
”Nothing really…happened. I just kinda got over it and learned my lesson. I think”

  
”You _think_?”

  
”We’ll just have to wait and see” Steve shrugged ”Anyway speaking of crushes, I’ve heard some rumors about you and Thor…”

  
Bruce blushed ”You know him?”

  
”Who doesn’t these days?”

  
”You’re right, you’re right and uh…” Bruce was probably blushing ”I guess it’s kinda true”

  
”That’s great!” Steve grinned widely. Bruce was about to say something in response, although he wasn’t entirely sure what, when the doorbell rang.

  
”One second” Bruce stood up and went to open the door. He wasn’t used to getting this many visitors at all, so he was slightly worried as he opened. To his surprise, Thor was waiting for him in the stairwell.

  
”Am I interrupting anything?” Thor looked into the apartment and gave Steve a quick wave.

  
”No, not at all”

  
There was a brief moment of silence, then Thor opened his arms.

  
”Come here?” He opened he said and Bruce all but fell into them, holding Thor as close as possible and gripping onto his red hoodie for dear life. For a while, Thor just gently patted his head then pushed him away enough to give him a quick kiss. It was like everything Bruce was worrying about melted away for a second and to be honest he’d loved to get more of that. That was until he remembered that Steve was there and most likely watching them. Bruce felt his ears grow hot and quickly turned back to the kitchen. He nearly sighed in relief when he saw that Steve had politely enough started checking his phone.

  
”Are you alright?” Thor still held him close, almost too close for Bruce to properly function.

  
”Things are…okay. Didn’t get much sleep though” Bruce stifled a yawn ”I’m sorry if I made you worry”

  
”Don’t be. If anything happens I want to help out!”

  
”Thank you” Bruce smiled fondly.

  
Thor lowered his voice to a whisper ”I actually came here because I need to talk to you about something. Is there anywhere we can go where he won’t hear us?”

  
”Yeah of course, let me just um-” Bruce waved a little at Steve to get his attention ”We’re going to the bedroom for a sec, that okay with you?”

  
”Sure, take your time” Steve looked a little flustered and it suddenly struck Bruce what the situation must look like from Steve’s perspective. He only just managed to stop himself from blabbering on about how he and Thor were _not_ going to kiss or _anything_ like that, since that would most likely just make the opposite seem all the more possible. Instead he just returned Steve’s smile and led Thor to the bedroom. Somehow, it was the tidiest space in the house, most likely due to how cramped it was. It wasn’t easy to set up any lab equipment in there so the mess was mostly confined to clothes more or less in need of a wash. Thor didn’t seem to mind, luckily.

  
”So what did you wanna talk about?” Bruce sat down on his bed and Thor followed after a moment. He leaned on Bruce’s shoulder, which was a little weird at first considering he was much taller, but after some shuffling around they made it work.

  
”Alright so…” It looked like Thor was trying to collect his thoughts ”I met Tony. He told me what happened”

  
”Oh”

  
It was all Bruce could say, really. There had been a little too many shocking news lately. It started to feel like he was getting immune to them.

 

”Are you okay?” Thor sat up and turned to Bruce, evidently worried. Bruce didn’t know what to say, or feel for that matter.

  
”I’m just so…tired, I guess” He sighed ”There’s so much going on, I can barely decide what to feel about one thing before the next disaster comes around and I have to worry about that and I think it managed to stress me out so much I stopped stressing, if that makes sense”

  
It didn’t seem like his little rant made Thor any less worried.

  
”Are you okay? Are you-” Thor paused ”Are you talking to anyone about…this?”

  
”No, no, I’m fine” _Most of the time,_ he thought ”It’s just with everything going on lately it’s getting too much for me to handle and I just wish I could catch a damn _break_ ”

  
”Hey, hey it’s okay” Thor pulled him closer again and Bruce realized that he had raised his voice.

  
”I’m sorry”

  
”You don’t have to apologize. You _shouldn’t_ apologize, because you’ve done nothing wrong”

  
”I got upset”

  
”Well you’ve all the right to, don’t you?”

  
Bruce bit his lip, trying to hold back the stream of words that were threatening to pour out of his mouth. It was just so damn easy to talk to Thor. Bruce almost wanted to tell him everything. Everything that had happened, everything that could happen, everything he was desperately trying to prevent from happening.

  
”I-” He took a deep breath ”I really can’t talk about it right now. I need to stay calm”

  
”Do you want to do something? Distract yourself, I mean?”

  
”That might actually work, yeah”

  
”Great!” Thor smiled ”Do you wanna be by yourself, or with someone else?”

  
”I think it’d be nice if you stayed” Bruce thought for a second ”And maybe we could talk a little more with Steve or something”

  
”That sounds like a plan” Thor made a motion to get up, but Bruce grabbed his elbow.

  
”I just need a moment” He explained, and Thor sat down again. Bruce tried to focus on the feeling of Thor next to him, rather than the feeing of stress that had threatened to take over completely. He kept his breathing even and finally asked ”Can I have a kiss?”

  
It sounded a bit sheepish, but Thor didn’t seem to notice. Without even replying he leaned in, kissing Bruce softly. Once again, he got that feeling of everything that worried him just disappearing. Melting into nothingness. When Thor leaned back the feeling lingered just long enough for Bruce to stand up and leave the cramped bedroom.

 

 

Thor and Steve got along perfectly from the moment they met, but Thor made a point of never letting Bruce be left out of the conversation and Steve handled it perfectly. He seemed to understand that something was up, but never commented on it, which suited Bruce perfectly. All in all, it was the perfect distraction.

  
Suddenly they were interrupted by Steve’s phone ringing. He excused himself from the table and headed into the living room to talk. Bruce could hear a few words here and there, but luckily it didn’t sound like any more bad news.

  
”Sorry” Steve said when he returned ”Nat called. They had to break things up early over there so they’re going home and want me to meet them. Guess duty calls”

  
”They can come here if they want” Bruce blurted out. At first he was surprised by himself, but the more he thought about it the more secure he became. Steve looked about as surprised as he had just felt.

  
”Are you sure? It’s just Nat and Clint, but they can be a bit…” He trailed off.

  
”Yeah, I’m sure. There’s room for everyone here” Bruce smiled to appear more secure, when in reality he was immediately getting nervous again. Steve grinned back, already unlocking his phone and walking towards the living room. Suddenly, a thought struck Bruce ”Wait! One condition though”

  
”Sure, what do you want?”

  
”Tell them to bring more fries, we’re out”

 

 

Clint and Natasha happily obliged to that condition. More than obliged, actually, they showed up with an ungodly amount of fries as well as soda and pizza. It hadn’t struck Bruce until about ten minutes after Steve invited them to come over that the two might be drunk, but when they showed up he was pleasantly surprised to find out that they weren’t.

  
”Thank Nat” Clint said, gesturing to his friend ”She threatened me”

  
”I simply informed my good friend Clint here that I wouldn’t be drinking because I had a girl to impress, and that I would hope he do the same in sympathy”

  
”You were holding a knife!”

  
”Ignore them” Steve said to Thor and Bruce, as the other two continued their argument ”They’re always like this”

  
”I know the type” Thor looked amused, though he threw a few glances at Natasha that were hard to read.

  
”Well” Bruce cleared his throat, gaining Clint and Natasha’s attention ”The kitchen’s over here if you wanna, sit down or something” He wasn’t exactly the model host, but no one seemed to mind.

  
”Sweet!” Clint followed him, whispering dramatically about what a horrible friend Natasha was all the way. Then, once he was seated by the table safely on the opposite side of her, he started doing it loudly. Steve looked a little embarrassed and tried his best to hold a conversation with Thor and Bruce in the meantime.

  
”Are you sure this was a good idea?” He whispered.

  
”It’s fine” Bruce whispered back. It was, really. Having an argument as backdrop to his own conversations was a little weird, sure, but he got used to it.

  
”Damn right it is” Natasha had apparently heard them ”Though I’m not sure what Thor here thinks about having me here”

  
”I’ve got nothing against you personally, I swear”

  
”But”

  
”A friend of mine left the party early because of you. Think she was planning on chatting you up”

  
Natasha looked thoughtful for a while.

  
”Brunhilde right?”

 

”Yeah”

 

”Well the next time you meet her, tell her I’m sorry for being preoccupied and that I’ll gladly set her up with a nice girl I know” Natasha grinned ”I’m an impeccable matchmaker”

  
”Don’t trust her, she’s been going through every girl in our year one by one, trying to get me to date them. Give it another month and she’ll have moved on to the guys”

  
”Well good thing I’m safe then” Bruce said, communicating his point further by leaning in to rest his head on Thor’s shoulder. When he looked up, Thor had an almost childish grin spread across his face.

  
”Oh that’s right” Natasha smiled ”The school’s new power couple. Did you get together before or after you came up with the brilliant idea of fighting Thanos?”

  
”More like I came up with the idea and Bruce had to show up and save me”

  
”I didn’t really save anything” Bruce protested ”I just threw my backpack and hoped I wouldn’t miss”

  
”Well you can’t deny you did an amazing job at that”

  
”Guys I haven’t even heard the whole story from a firsthand source” Clint cut in ”You wouldn’t mind filling me in would you?”

  
”Of course not”

  
As Thor told the story Bruce felt his face grow hotter and hotter. Thor made it sound like Bruce was some kind of hero, bursting in out of nowhere to save the day. Steve, Clint and Natasha, who hadn’t been there, looked amazed and by the time the story was over Clint raised his water glass.

  
”Cheers to _that_!”

  
”Cheers!” Thor agreed and kissed Bruce on the cheek.

  
So being the hero was pretty okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blease comment I'm starving and have spent weeks in the North all by me onesies it was dreadful

**Author's Note:**

> Don't come for my life I know this is kinda bad and I only wrote this because I wanted to, so don't @ me  
> Do leave comments tho I really love that


End file.
